Evangelion Re Loaded
by JDH1080
Summary: Shinji failed; Third Impact was initiated, can Shinji retrace his steps and fix his mistakes? Can he save those he loves or die trying?
1. My end?

**Well here it is, the first revised Chapter, first let me say that I am truly sorry that I was unable to keep up my promise. I promise you that I will not give up, at least not so easily. I swear I will do my best to bring you all a conclusion for Re-Loaded.**

**Anyway I think this is a good chapter for the revised version. I feel that I did better at trying to add more, one problem I had when I first started writing was I focused on Shinji and Asuka too much. I'm still going to have most of the focus on them, but I'm going to try and branch out a bit. Show what some of the other characters think. Anyway this is the first chapter, and I think that some of you will like this better than the first version. I feel that I have thought this one out a bit more. Now then enough of my useless babbling, on with the show**

* * *

Evangelion: Re-Loaded

Chapter One: My end?

A lot of things had led to this point in time. Shinji now has a difficult decision to make, he sighed as he looked at the cause of his painful and tormented existence. Evangelion Unit 1 stared back at him with lifeless eyes. Shinji now dressed in his plug suit continued his staring contest with the Eva, his temporary red eyes narrowed as he remembered all of the steps it took to get here. All of the challenges he had overcome, the people whose lives he had saved as well as some he had hurt.

The boy walked over to the entry plug this would be the last time he would pilot the Eva. Win or lose, today would be the last time he would fight alongside his mother. He looked over to the other Eva in the Eva Cages. Evangelion Unit 2. The red monster was covered in a red like substance, Bakelite. Courtesy of Shinji himself.

"_You were never supposed to exist." The sliver haired woman said her bright gold eyes locked on Shinji's usual blue eyes. _

"_How could you say that?" Shinji asked quietly. "Even if it were true?" He sadly looked to the floor. _

"…" _The gold eyed woman looked to the floor. "I'm sorry;" She sadly sighed. "I guess some things are better left…unknown."_

Shinji shook his head. 'Today…I repent completely for my sins.' At that the plug closed.

* * *

"_I'm glad I did that favor for Ikari." _

Rei Ayanami stared at a picture of her and her friends. She stood in her dark and dirty apartment. The picture she was currently looking at was a group photo of her, Shinji, Kensuke, Toji, Hikari, and even Asuka. 'In the past year my life has been…altered so much.' But she was actually…happy with how things had gone. 'Back then I lived only for the Commander. I wasn't…living at all.' But that had changed. Upon coming back from picking up the Second Child on 'Over the Rainbow' Shinji had changed a lot. 'I now essentially know how to articulate my emotions.' It was because of Shinji's new attitude that she could express herself. She didn't exist only for Nerv or the Commander. She had learned to exist for herself and for her friends.

It was Shinji; no it was Asuka that had helped her. 'Somehow the Second Child affected Pilot Ikari.' Rei knew that Asuka defiantly had a hold over Shinji. She knew that Asuka had somehow helped Shinji become the person he is today. 'And thus made me who I am today.' The blue haired teen placed the photo on her nightstand. Looking around her apartment she allowed a small shy smile as she remembered when Toji and Hikari had came over to give her the paper work for school or whatever. They had cleaned her apartment. 'I was so…astonished.' They had come to deliver a few papers and instead done that and even cleaned her apartment. 'It was the first time I ever…expressed gratitude.' Taking a seat on her bed she sighed as she idly played with the small bracelet on her wrist.

'That's another thing that had changed.'

_*Smack*_

_Rei found herself glaring at the bisected boy in front of her. Now it all made sense. Why he had asked to accompany her to that 'dance' and why he was dating her. 'A favor.' The statement made her feel sick to her stomach as well as…a slight unknown pain in her chest._

"_Rei I-." She cut him off as she kicked him in the stomach. _

_Staring down at him her red eyes narrowed in anger, true anger for the first time in her life she felt pure rage. A small part of her wanted to continue with what the kick started but knew that she could easily kill him. As Eva Pilots they had under gone special training and to kill a citizen using it to harm the boy would be unscrupulous. "I have nothing to say to you, Aida." The blue haired girl said before walking away._

'That was the first time I ever felt…resentment.' Rei had been mad at Kensuke and Shinji. It had taken a lot of effort from the former to get her to start talking to Kensuke, as well as some effort from Asuka surprisingly. 'Well I wouldn't say effort from Asuka. More like complaining that I was being stupid.' Rei allowed a small smiled to grace her pretty face 'For once the Second Child understood what she was speaking about.' Things really had turned out well. 'For once I…I…' Rei Ayanami stood up and faced the exit to her home. "I want to live."

* * *

Toji Suzuhara stared at his sleeping sister. His younger sister slept peacefully, unaware of what terrors the world truly held. He almost envied her. Looking around the room he saw that it was very nice, considering that he was in Nerv HQ. 'And all it cost was my soul.' He thought a bit bitterly. He had become a part of Nerv to get better treatment for his little sister, who was now doing much better because of it.

Of course though when fighting inside of Eva he didn't just think of his sister's safety, He thought of his comrade and the third member of the idiot trio as Asuka dubbed them. He remembered seeing how painful Eva was for Shinji. But now that he thought about it he realized that it is worth it. To protect his friends he had sold his soul and he never looked back.

When it came to Nerv he knew that he was still somewhat in the dark. At least that's what Nerv thinks. 'Because of Ikari.' It was because of Shinji that Toji had learned of some of the dark secrets that Nerv holds. 'But even Shinji is still hiding some thi-.' Toji was cut off from his thoughts as a young unshaven man lazily walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Toji asked the unshaven man.

"Pilot Suzuhara I am here to escort you to your Eva." The man said in a rare business tone.

"Will Kana be safe?" Toji asked in a serious tone.

"Your sister will be unharmed." The man assured the pilot of Unit 3. "Section Two agents are guarding the medical ward of Nerv." The man informed Toji. "But chances are she won't be attacked considering that the attack force sent by the JSSDF hasn't even headed to the medical ward." After that he took a second to let Toji process all of this info. "Now we need to go, or chances are that we'll have to fight our way though if we don't leave now." The man said a bit urgently.

Toji sighed as he stood from his seat. "Alright, lead the way Kaji."

* * *

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Ring*

"Hello?" A tired and hung over Misato asked as she picked up the phone.

"…"

"Hello?" She repeated in her sleepy tone.

"…Misato?"

Said woman blinked in surprise. "Shinji?" She asked wondering why he would call her. "Why are you calling me when you're just across the ha-?"

"Misato you need to get Asuka to safety. I don't have much time to explain." Shinji cut her off as he in a tone Misato had never heard. "You need to get out of there; they'll be on our doorstep soon." Shinji informed his voice worried and urgent. As he paused a now semi sober Misato took this time to evaluate his words. If it was anyone else she'd almost think it to be practical joke.

'But this is Shinji. Shinji isn't the type to joke about something this big.'

"Don't worry about me." Shinji's voice brought Misato back from her thoughts. "I'm already on my way to Nerv. I will find safety there, I recommend tha-." Shinji's voice was cut off as gun fire was heard on the other side. "Shit." Misato heard Shinji hiss as she heard muffled shouts and multiple gun fire on the other side.

"Shinji-kun!" The violet haired woman called out for her surrogate son. But all she received was a click and the dial tone. Quickly a now somewhat sober Misato rushed out of bed and chaotically got dressed. If what Shinji said was true than she needed to hurry. 'Shinji-kun!' She thought worriedly as she rushed out of her room still putting on her jacket.

"Asuka!"

Misato's voice had awoken the Germen redhead who sighed in irritation she just wanted to stay in bed. She was still a bit sore from last night's late activities. As she rolled in her bed she noticed that the spot beside her was void of the other person that had been there last night. 'Shinji?' She opened her eyes and saw that Shinji was indeed gone. 'Where did he go?'

The door to the room busted open and Asuka watched as Misato who was wearing her dress inside out but didn't seem to notice it. "Asuka we need to-!" She paused as she saw that the young teen was naked and at the moment holding the sheets above her chest. 'We don't have time for this!' She sighed in irritation. "Asuka just get dressed. We need to leave now!"

The older woman then closed the door to give Asuka a sense of privacy and to guard the entrance to the room in case the soldiers arrived. Misato pulled her fire arm out of her coat pocket, as she looked around the hall, something didn't feel right. Something felt completely off, but she wasn't sure. She felt as if she was being choked. Looking down she saw that her dress had been on backwards. She cursed as she tried to fix her dress.

* * *

Shinji felt the Eva going above ground. He had made sure to position it just below the lake, as it was where the bulk of the JSSDF armed forces were. Shinji as he rose toward the surface gripped the controls and closed his slowly closed his eyes. 'I…still have a purpose. Maybe I wasn't supposed to exist, but as long as I have my purpose I will fight.' Shinji allowed his thoughts to roam the memories of learning how to fight coming to him.

"_Breath in, breath out." The soft voice said. "It is the key to using your AT-Field to its limit. If you can master proper breathing you will be a step closer to using your AT-Field to your full potential."_

The young brown haired boy took a slow and steady deep breath in, then he exhaled. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Shinji's brown hair then turned to a pure white hue that was almost as white as snow. His eyes slowly fluttered open to reveal a pair of crimson orbs. "Let's go." The Eva was then ejected to the surface.

The first thing Shinji saw was that his Eva was surrounded by water. Luckily the lake wasn't too deep so even with B-Type Equipment he would be allowed mobility. "Ahhhhhh!" He screamed as he fired off his Eva's AT-Field upwards.

Outside the leader of the assault team sent by the JSSDF watched with satisfaction as his tanks and airships fired upon the lake entrance to the Geo-Front. But then all firing upon Nerv ceased as a bright blue light in the shape of a cross fired up from the lake. General Kurosawa watched with astonishment as the giant purple beast broke through the battered remains of the ship; Shinji's beam of light had pierced. The monster remained in place as it seemed to be staring at the fleet that had been sent.

"What are you doing?" The General demanded. "Fire at it, take out the purple monster!" General Kurosawa ordered his subordinates. The General watched with a satisfied smirk as the Eva disappeared in a cloud of black smoke from the projectiles. The smirk was wiped off as Eva Unit 1 jumped up high in the sky and landed on a tank that was firing at it only seconds ago.

"AHHHHHHH!" Shinji yelled as he picked up one of the tanks and tossed it at a nearby airship. 'Mother, Kaworu…Watch over me.' He gripped his controls as the numerous tanks and aircrafts fired upon him. He willed his Eva to jump. 'I won't die so easily! If my fate is to die here-.' He slammed into a tank. "Then-." He grabbed an aircraft. ", I'm not going down without a fight!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he smashed the aircraft into another one. The aircraft broke in half and he threw the remaining half into the ground where a tank lay. 'I don't care if I was supposed to exist or not, I'm here, and as long as I am breathing I will fight!'

Out of his peripheral vision Shinji saw a missile heading his way. He swiftly willed his Eva to sidestep it, he felt the vibrations from the explosions but he didn't have time to be distracted as another one was coming for his face. Quickly he launched his fist forward and punched through the missile. 'IS that all you got?' He then felt something attacking his back. He turned to see that his Umbilical Cable had been blasted off. 'Crap.' He cursed as he ejected the remains of the cord from his Eva's back for it was now useless. "You think that will stop me?" He yelled as he charged the JSSDF forces. "I don't need that cord to destroy you bastards!" He screamed as he stomped a tank. "All I need is my AT-Field and my friends!" He shouted as he slammed into an aircraft. "As long as mother and Kaworu are watching me, nothing short of death will stop me!" He fired off a blast from his AT-Field. "I will not lie down and die!" He shouted as he stared at the charred remains of the fleet.

* * *

Shinji surveyed his handy work. The JSSDF were now retreating, that was a good thing. 'But that means that they'll be here soon.' His red eyes narrowed as he remembered Asuka's end.

"_I'll kill you. I'll kill you. I'll kill you." _

Shinji gripped the controls even tighter as he came out of those dark thoughts. "They're here." He calmly said as he watched nine ships carrying the Mass Production Evas. He huffed in irritation. He had just been informed that Misato was acting as an escort for Asuka and that they were on their way to the Eva Cages. 'Damn it, if I hadn't been interrupted by that soldier they could be out of the city by now!' He sighed there was nothing he could do about it now. Even if she reached the cages she wouldn't be able to get to her Eva. 'But there's still ground troops moving about down there.' He gripped the controls even harder at the thought of Asuka running into one of them without Misato by her side. Shaking his head he pushed away such dark thoughts. "No, I need to focus." He said as his red eyes flashed.

"I won't allow you to hurt my friends." Shinji strongly said as he watched the MP Evas that wiled black double bladed swords land one by one. "Destroy them all?" He repeated Misato's words with a confident smirk as he saw the MP Evas had surrounded him. "That's easier said than done, Misato." He paused as he slowly leaned forward. "Nine in three minutes and thirty seconds. That's twenty seconds per kill with a few seconds to relax." At that he pushed his controls forward and willed his Eva to charge the closet Mass Production Eva. With a shout he leaped into the air and stomped on the white Eva's head, crushing its skull. Landing behind the white Eva he felt it slump backwards and fall upon his Eva. The blood like substance known as LCL sprayed out of its headless stump. 'Easy.' He willed his Eva to turn and grab the headless MP Eva, lifting it above his head he twisted the white Eva with all of his might until it ripped apart and LCL poured out of it coating the purple Eva in the red substance. 'Just like Asuka said: A battle should be swift and elegant.' He thought with a smirk as he dropped the lifeless Eva to the floor and charged another Eva.

The Battle continued on as the brown haired boy attacked the closet Eva. He shouted as he willed the purple Eva to pounce the closet Eva, landing in the water he attempted to drown the struggling Eva. 'Die!' Shinji silently shouted in his mind as he released his Prog-Knife from Eva Unit 1's compartment. With a shout he smashed the hilt of the undrawn Prog-Knife into the face of the MP Eva. At that Shinji felt the white monstrosity's struggle conclude. Shinji wasted no time as he jumped from the water and charged the nearest MP Eva. With a yell he drew his Prog-Knife's blade. With unbelievable speed he severed off the Eva's left arm, and wasted no time in slicing its other arm. Shinji watched as the armless Eva attempt to steady it's balance; using the Eva's weakness Shinji quickly jammed his knife into its skull. Thus ending the MP Eva's life.

'That makes three.' Shinji mentally stated in his mind as he drew his swiftly drew his Prog-Knife from the dead Eva. Upon hearing a snapping noise Shinji saw that his knife had lost its blade. 'Damn it!' He then notices an Eva taking the offense from his peripheral vision. Pushing the controls forward Shinji willed his Eva to roll forward. As he came out of his roll Shinji noted the double bladed weapon that had been dropped by the previously killed Eva. As he grabbed it and lifted it out of the ground he noted that it was incredibly heavy. 'How the hell did Asuka pick this thing up?' He questions as he brings up his new weapon in defense from the oncoming Eva.

Shinji parried the White Eva's strikes. "AHHHH!" He shouted as he bashed the double bladed weapon into the white Eva's side. The MP Eva stopped its movement, stunned by its damage. Shinji took this as the time to raise the bladed weapon over his head. With a shout he brought it through the skull of the Eva. He watched as the blade craved the Eva in half, Shinji smirked as the LCL sprayed out of the now dead Eva.

Shinji screamed as he felt himself being brought to the ground in an ambush attack. He watched as the Eva grinned in victory. 'Not a chance!' The white Eva lets out a screech of pain as it feels a bladed weapon going through its abdomen. Upon looking down it discovered a red Prog-Knife going through its stomach. The MP Eva hadn't thought that a second Prog-Knife compartment was on the Eva. It had been completely unprepared for this. The white Eva let out another shriek as Shinji sliced it in half with his second Prog-Knife.

Shinji smashed another MP Eva's head into a large building; it was at that time he saw just how low on time he was. 'Twenty-Five seconds and only two Eva's left? No problem!' Despite his confident thoughts he knew that he had to speed it up. "I won't give in! I won't die so easily to YOU BASTARDS!" He shouted, pure determination leaking off his words.

* * *

"Oh no…" Misato's voice rang out as she saw the red Eva covered in Bakelite.

'Shinji.' Asuka to was speechless as she saw her Eva now unusable. She couldn't believe this, Shinji was out there fighting for his life and now she couldn't even help? This wasn't right, it couldn't end like this. She could easily hear the battle outside. 'You better come back alive Baka-Shinji.' She thought as she heard him take down another MP Eva.

* * *

"AHHHHH!" Shinji roared as he dragged the white abomination through the ground he was heading for the last standing Eva. "THIS IS IT!" Shinji yelled as he slammed them together. He pierced his arm that was holding his Prog-Knife though the Evas. 'Fifthteen seconds left.' He thought in fear as he saw that it was close. The white Evas wailed in pain as LCL sprouted from them at an alarming rate. 'Eleven seconds.' He roared. "Just fucking die already!" Then all was silent.

The battle was won. Shinji had defeated all nine Evas. At least that was how it appeared, Shinji saw it. No one else could see or hear it. But Shinji did, he saw it coming. The double bladed weapon of an MP Eva was heading for his head. Taking action Shinji pulled his arm out of the Evas' corpse and shot it toward the projectile. Shinji watched as his AT-Filed appeared in front of him. The weapon remained stationary in air; Shinji watched it hover for a second. He grunted as he saw it slowly taking a different shape. 'The Lance of Longinus.' He braced himself for the intense pain to come.

"AHHHHHHH!" Shinji arched his back and howled in pain as the lance passed though Unit 1's eye. Shinji could feel the searing pain in his eye. 'This is…this is what…what Asuka felt.' He silently said in his mind as he gripped the left side of his head. Shinji watched as his Eva fell backwards; with his good eye Shinji saw that his Eva was now out of power. 'Zero Seconds.'

Inside the now dark entry plug Shinji jerked the controls forward as he cried out from the relentless throb in his left eye. Shinji's vision was clouded from the steady stream of crimson seeping though his eye. His breath was ragged and shallow. His heartbeat increased at an extreme rate as he scanned through Asuka's experience of being beaten by the Eva series and then eaten alive.

* * *

"Internal Engine System power is finished, Evangelion Unit 1 is silent." Lt. Ibuki announced in a defeated voice as she looked at the small computer screen. She gasped as she noticed something else. "What in the…" She couldn't believe it. 'That can't be!' She screamed in her mind. "The Eva series are regenerating?" She announced fear for Shinji clouding her heart.

* * *

Shinji slowly stopped jerking his controls forward knowing it to be futile. He watched as the white monstrosities stood back up. Some were still heavily damaged; Shinji saw one still had the blade of a Prog-Knife still jammed in its skull. One's head lately open, exposing its brain. Shinji leaned back in his seat and looked up toward the sky. He watched as the nine Evas took to the sky and flew around him in a circle. 'Kaworu.' Shinji felt tears leaving his eyes. "Kaworu, why is it we must suffer to do right? Is it ever worth it? To save those you love?" Shinji paused for a second. "Did I do the right thing?" At that the white haired boy closed his red eyes slowly resigning himself to his end as he allowed the memories of the past few months to flow from his mind.

How did it all begin? Why did Shinji reach this unfortunate possibility? Was this how it should end? This all began the last time Instrumentality began.

For a moment it was all quiet. A few birds could be heard chirping not too far away from the bloody battle. And then a loud voice rang out as the Eva Series attacked. "Shinji!"


	2. Shinji's choice

**I know that I said I wouldn't post this chapter until a bit later, but I decided to do so because I have a small message I want to send to all of the readers. **

**I have been watching the crisis in Japan escalate, and I would like it if everyone could offer a small prayer for those who have lost their lives and those who are struggling now. I mean with the earthquake, and the tsunami that fallowed it. And now they've got the power plants to worry about. That's why I would like it if all of you would, I don't know, be thankful that you're not there, but keep those unfortunate people in mind. And that's why I am dedicating this chapter to those people in Japan who are facing hard times, or if anyone has family or friends in Japan who got caught up in those disasters, because they don't deserve what's happening to them, nobody does. **

**With that said, ****enjoy**** this early chapter**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Two: Shinji's choice

Shinji felt odd. He was on an unfamiliar surface, though he wasn't sure, but he thought it to be sand. But that couldn't be right. Why would he be on sand? Opening his eyes he saw that he was lying face down on a beach.

'How?' He asked. Looking through hazy eyes he saw that he was halfway submerged in red water. "LCL…" He muttered in a dazed voice. He with wobbly arms pushed himself up to his feet. Taking a few seconds to regain his bearings Shinji took this time to study his surroundings. Shinji saw the white sand beneath his feet, the red ocean he stood next to. He shuffled to land, wanting to get away from the smell of blood. He was still in a bit of a daze as he continued to survey his background. The sun was slowly setting, it was an orange/red color, if this was another time Shinji would find the time to admire the beauty of it.

Then something caught his eye. The giant split- in-half face of his (In a way) sister. The maniacal grin petrified him. Then he felt something snap, and memories started to flow into his mind.

"_NO! NO! Don't make me remember!"_

"_Sorry, you see his sister was injured during the attack."_

"_Man fears the darkness, and so he scrapes away at the edges of it with fire."_

""_This is your home now, so make yourself comfortable. And take advantage of everything here, except me."_

"_You saying that I'm lazy?"_

"_I think…I am the third."_

"_I have nothing else."_

"_Somehow I feel that I was born to meet you."_

"_That's and adult kiss, when you get back we'll do the rest."_

Shinji clutched his head in pain. He felt the intense pain surging through his brain as he could see the lives of people he loved and people he didn't even know going through his head.

"_I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" _

"_Mama! Mama! Now I understand! The meaning of the AT-Field! You were always protecting me! Always watching over me!"_

Shinji could see the final battle from start to finish. Asuka tearing through the invasion force to getting eaten by the Eva Series. "Ahhh!" Shinji let out a wail of pain as he felt her pain. The memories felt so real, almost like he had experienced them. It wasn't just Asuka's battle he saw, he could see Rei's first activation test. Ritsuko's mother chocking Rei I, Asuka finding her dead mother, Toji's thoughts during the thirteenth Angel.

"_Help!" Toji shouted as he pounded against the entry plug. "Someone help!" It wasn't like him to plead for help but he would accept even help from the red devil. 'Okay, calm down Suzuhara.' Toji quietly said in his mind. 'Who always saves the day?' Simple answer Toji figured with the roll of his eyes. "Shinji."_

Shinji fell to the floor as the pain became too intense.

"_Where's Ikari?" Toji asked the visiting Hikari and Kensuke. _

_Hikari offered a shrug as Kensuke spoke. "I don't know, perhaps he's busy, I've been hearing a lot of rumors around here when I hacked into some of Nerv's files. But I don't even know if they're true."_

_Toji looked down a little. He knew that Shinji had destroyed the Eva, Toji may have lost a leg because of Shinji…but he wanted to thank him. 'He…saved my life…twice.'_

Shinji gripped his head even tighter as more memories came. He could see…everything. "Pant…pant…" Then the pain in his left eye became intense as if he had been stabbed in it. "Ahhhh…AHHHH!" He screamed as the intense pain did not let up.

"_Asuka Langley Soryu, charmed huh?"_

"_What are you? Stupid?"_

"_Baka!"_

"_Baka-Shinji, stop saying sorry! Do you even know why you're so apologetic all the time?"_

"_Then don't do anything, just leave me alone."_

"_Damn they're persistent!" Asuka's voice was heard as well as the clink of metal. "And where is that idiot Shinji? You're still not here!"_

"_I know all about your little jerk-off fantasies about me. Go ahead and do it like you always do…I'll even stand here and watch you. But…if I can't have you all to myself, then I don't want ANYTHING from you."_

Shinji rolled around on the ground until he was on his knees. He was taking rapid shallow breaths, he was covered in sweat, and just all around exhausted. The pain in his head was starting to lessen, now it was just a dull ache. He saw something drop from his eye and hit the ground…tears. More of them. It started out slowly but within a few seconds Shinji Ikari, Third Child, and slayer of Angels was weeping like a little boy.

"It's my fault!" Shinji cried as the weight of the truth finally came down upon him. His memory scanning the last day of his life, as well as those close to him. It was the only answer he could come up with. It was his fault. He could have prevented this. "I…I-I could h-hav-have saved Misato! I co-coul-could have saved As-Asuka. I could hav-have s-saved everyone." Shinji quietly cried out. 'If only I had been stronger, then I would have saved them for sure. I wouldn't have been hiding like a coward; I would have been out there beside Asuka, fighting to save humanity.'

"You would have perished besides her that is the truth." A familiar voice said. Shinji's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. It was familiar alright, but surprisingly it was a bit colder than he had ever heard it.

Looking up Shinji stared into the red eyes of Kaworu Nagisa or Tabris. Of which of the two was staring at him he didn't know. "What?" Shinji croaked out. "What did you say?"

"I said that even if you had helped her you would have died besides her." Kaworu stated pure and simple.

Shinji's fist clenched around the sand. Hate seared though his body, he want to scream and yell, punch and kick, he wanted to hurt someone for the pain he and his friends had experienced. "No, it's not my fault."

"Hmm? Then tell me, Shinji, who is at fault?" Kaworu asked with an eyebrow raise.

Shinji pushed the ground with his fist and charged Kaworu. "It's YOU ANGELS!" Shinji yelled as his fist made contact with an open hand

"Hold onto that rage, foster it, allow it to grow." Kaworu softly said as he let go of Shinji's fist. "Yes, in a way we Angels are to blame, but so are the Lilim." Kaworu explained in a caring soft voice. "Shinji, I didn't wish this on you, the reason why I had you destroy me was because I thought you could save everyone. But it seems that you were too fragile." Shinji felt Kaworu's arms circle around him.

Shinji pushed Kaworu away from him not as hard as he wanted to. "I could have saved everyone!" Shinji yelled.

"You wouldn't have survived." Kaworu countered.

"I turned my back on everyone!" The brown haired boy shouted with rage and sorrow.

"Everyone turned their back on you." Kaworu said his voice starting to rise a little. "The world abused you." Kaworu's voice slowly rising cutting Shinji off. "Why would you want to save such a world?" Kaworu asked with skepticism dripping off his voice. "Why? Why would you want to protect such creatures who have never loved you?" Kaworu asked with a small bit of rage in his voice. "They always wanted something from you!" The sliver haired boy accused. "Toji and Kensuke, your so-called friends were only there because of Misato."

'That's not true, they're my friends.'

"Gendo only wanted you for Eva. Kaji wanted you around because you were an easy link to Misato; Misato wanted you around because she wanted a maid." Kaworu's soft voice rising up as he accused all of Shinji's loved ones. "And Asuka? She wanted a door mat; someone's whose will was even more broken then hers. Someone she could push arour-."

Kaworu was cut off by the fist of Shinji Ikari. Shinji stared at his fist in surprise and awe. He hadn't ever punched someone, well unless counting Toji. But Shinji had never hit anyone in rage like this before. And Kaworu was one of the last people he had ever expected to punch. "Sh-shu-shut up." Shinji said in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Repeat that." Kaworu ordered.

"I…" Shinji paused as he retracted his outstretched fist. He dropped his head to the floor and stared at the sand beneath his shoes. "I said shut up!" Shinji yelled as he shot his head back up and locked with Kaworu's crimson eyes. "You don't know anything!" The blue eyed boy accused. "Sure they may have had their reasons to be my friends. But so did I!" Shinji yelled as he pointed a finger to his own chest. "I became Misato's roommate to find a place of belonging in Tokyo-3. I became friends with Toji and Kensuke because I didn't want to be alone! I became Rei's friend because I wanted to know her!" Shinji's ire poured into his words. "I became your friend because you were the only one to offer me love without wanting it in return, you were a replacement!" Shinji yelled at the top of his lungs. He was huffing and panting. He couldn't believe that he had said all that. 'Asuka…' He lifted his head up and looked at a still very composed Kaworu. "I became Asuka's friend because…" He started out slowly and quietly. After a second he looked down.

"Because?" Kaworu probed unfazed.

'Why?' Shinji, if he really thought about it. He really couldn't find an answer. Logically thinking he couldn't find a reason for being Asuka's friend. Other than her being 'eye candy' there was nothing he gained from being her friend. And he didn't even have to be her friend to receive that. 'Why? Why? Why!'

_

* * *

_

Flashback

_Shinji opened his eyes slowly and gulped. His eyes bulged at the sight before him; there in front of him was Asuka Langley Soryu. Probably the most attractive girl he had ever met, laid in front of him, and he Shinji Ikari had a great view of her cleavage. _

_He hears her groan slightly as she shifts to get into a more comfortable position. Shinji gulped as his eyes went from her well developed chest to her soft looking lips. He licked his lips slightly as he watched her lips part. He wondered if they were as soft as they looked. _

_Shinji then found himself leaning forward. Ever so slowly he advanced toward her lips with the intent to capture his first kiss. "Mama…" Shinji paused as their lips just barely touched. "Mama!" She said a bit stronger. Shinji was bare centimeters away from her lips, if Shinji really wanted to he could cover the small distance and blame it on him being asleep. But as he watched a tear leave her closed eye he felt his heart wrench as the redheaded girl cried for her mother. _

'_We're the same.' Shinji slowly backed away from her with a small smile. He had found someone he could relate to, and at the time he didn't know it but he had also found…someone who he could fall in love with._

* * *

"Because…We're the same!" Shinji yelled. "That's why we were friends. Me and Asuka…" Shinji looked up towards the sky. "Because…" He felt tears leaving his eyes. "Because we both know the pain of loneliness." And then Shinji fell to his knees. 'And yet despite our common ground I…abandoned her!' Shinji's tears increased in number. 'I'm the worst!' Shinji sobbed in his mind. "I'm sorry Asuka."With tears streaming down his face Shinji apologized truthfully for the first time that he could remember in his life.

"Are you truly sorry?" A soft monotone voice asked. Shinji ceased all movement at that. Rising to his feet quickly he turned to the source of the voice. And saw in place of the giant head of Rei Ayanami was instead a young woman with blue hair and red eyes. She wore a blue dress and was barefoot. Shinji was speechless; she looked like an older version of Rei. "Are you truly remorseful of your actions?" She asked.

Shinji watched her for a second in stunned silence. He didn't know what was going on; first Kaworu shows up, then this older Rei look-alike. "What?" He gritted his teeth. "What is going on?" Shinji asked as frustration was released from him. "Why? Why am I here?" He demanded of the two who stood unfazed by Shinji's unusually violent poster. "Why are you here?" Shinji fell back to his knees. "What…What happens next?" Shinji asked his voice hoarse from yelling. "The end?" Shinji Ikari asked in an almost wishful voice.

"Perhaps." The Rei look alike said. "Or maybe the beginning. It's for you to decide."

"What do you mean!" Shinji demanded. "I-I-I don't know anything anymore." Shinji quietly said in a defeated voice.

"We're talking about giving you a second chance." At that Shinji felt his eyes widen exponentially. Did he hear right? A second chance.

'Do I even deserve that?' Shinji asked doubt clouding his fragile mind. "People don't get the luxury of being able to press the giant 'reset' button. Why should I? What makes me so special?" Shinji questioned tiredly as he gripped the grainy sand in between his digits.

"…"

"You have no answer?" Shinji asked a bit mockingly. "Have I stunned the great Angel Tabris?"

"…Kaworu." The 17th Angel muttered.

"What?"

"My name…is Kaworu Nagisa." The sliver haired Angel said. "You…" Kaworu walked up to Shinji and reached down. Gripping Shinji's collar he lifted Shinji up, and held him in place in mid air. "Before I met you, I was like the majority of the Angels." The red eyed teen explained in a monotone voice. "I believed the Lilim were useless, though I may have found them interesting it was because of their selfish nature. Yet it was how they survived." Kaworu's red eyes narrowed. "But then I met you. You were, for lack of a better term, a door mat." Kaworu bluntly said so. "You allowed your so called loved ones to trample all over you. You'd say you're sorry, but you didn't even know why you're so apologetic. You...I wanted to know why you were so different from other Lilim." Kaworu said quietly. "My answer, I found it not even a day after meeting you; you are afraid. That's the answer; plain and simple." Kaworu's grip tightened around Shinji's collar. "But it seems…" Kaworu then threw the boy to the ground. "I was wrong."

Shinji looked up at Kaworu who leered down at him with narrowed red eyes. "Yes you are afraid, but you're just as selfish as the other Lilim. I was wrong to leave the world in you're incapable hands." Kaworu said in a heartless voice. Shinji mumbled something. "I'm sorry I didn't quite hear you, speak up." Kaworu said in response.

"…" Shinji stood up. He looked into Kaworu's eyes. "You're wrong."

"How am I wrong?" Kaworu asked nonchalantly. "Look at where we are." The 17th Angel said gesturing to the background. "This is Instrumentality. The end, the thing that you were supposed to prevent."

"Bottom line is: you failed." The older version of Rei quietly said. "This is the result of your folly." She monotonously said as she crossed her arms.

Shinji looked down sadly. Sighing sadly he looked back at them. "You're right." He said in a very sorrow filled voice. "You're right." He repeated. "I did mess up, I know I did. But I want to make amends. Whatever it takes." Shinji said now staring the blue haired woman in the eye.

"Whatever it takes?" She asked. Shinji only nodded, determination seeping into his eyes. He no longer had the look of a boy, afraid of the world; he had the look of a man ready to dance with destiny. Turning to Kaworu the woman spoke. "Kaworu, do it."

The Angel nodded. "As you command Lilith." Kaworu walked in front of Shinji and smirked. "Good luck." He quietly whispered…and then Shinji felt his world go black. "You'll need it."

* * *

The tide started to come in, Kaworu and Lilith watched the ocean of red while they sat on a fairly large piece of metal. "You know he can only handle so much, right?" The blue haired beauty asked.

"Of course I do." Kaworu says as he looks at the dark sky staring at the small stream of blood that slowly starting to recede into the black sphere above them. "That's why I gave him something to protect him. And do you really think I'd send him behind defenseless?" Kaworu asks as he slowly starts to disappear.

"Adam won't take kindly to this." Lilith said now that she was alone. "Sadly we're the only Angels brave enough to speak against him. I hope you know what you're doing Kaworu."

**

* * *

**

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter,

**God bless those in Japan who lost their lives, their homes, and/or their families, **

**My prayers are with them.**


	3. Trust me

**Damn, I'm surprised that I wrote so much. I mean this chapter was split into two, and I still have nearly 7000 words. Anyway, I actually liked this chapter. I feel that I did pretty good, though I'll admit that Shinji and the gang might be a little OOC, but he it is Fan fiction. **

**Also, know that I will be working hard on this during the next week for I am now on Spring Break. And I sadly (for me) don't have any plans. (And I don't feel like going on a trip anyways, considering the gas prices…yikes) so this will give me time to work on this fic. I'm actually glad that I decided to re-write Re Loaded. I'm happy to see how much I've improved and also this has allowed me to add in a few things that I wanted to from before. **

**Anyway I guess you guys are a bit tired of my rambling, so without further ado, I present to you all the Third Chapter of Re-Loaded.**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Three: Trust me

'Familiar ceiling.' Was the first thought Shinji had as his eyes locked with the plain ceiling above him. Most wouldn't think it to be a big deal, but to Shinji it was. This ceiling was of the first place that he could genuinely call home. He was back, back home. Shinji felt a small bit of tension release from his body. His confrontation with Kaworu had been mentally straining to say the least. "Tadaima." Shinji quietly said as he got out of bed.

Now standing in the kitchen Shinji worked on a meager breakfast for him and Misato. It was hard to keep from gathering too much ingredients and making Asuka's plate. Shinji, upon coming into the kitchen had seen the date. 'That day, the day I met her. How…ironic. This was the day I met the person who could relate to me the most.' Shinji silently mused as he worked on the small breakfast. 'And yet all we did was hurt each other.'

"Yeaaaaaah!" Misato's morning battle cry broke out. Shinji almost laughed. Back at this time he had found this to be an annoying habit, but now it was like music to his ears. Shinji with his back turned to the barely clothed Misato Katsuragi smiled. "Ne, Shinji why are you dressed for school?" His ever so responsible guardian asked. "Didn't I tell you that we're going on that 'field trip' today?"

"Misato-san this is how I always dress." Shinji replied for once (To Misato during the morning) without a stutter or a blush as he finished cooking.

"I don't know why you keep declining my offer to go shopping," The violet haired woman muttered. "I mean come on! Going shopping with me is like every teen boys dream come true" She said a bit louder than necessary hoping to get a rise out of Shinji as he placed a plate in front of her. "What boy wouldn't want to be seen in public with me?" She asked as she chewed her food a bit harshly.

Misato had expected a blush or a stutter, but instead she got…"The type that doesn't want you to go to jail for being a pedophile." Shinji casually replied as he dug into his food.

At that Misato started chocking on her food. The Third Child handed her the beer she had been drinking seconds ago. Shinji resumed eating as Misato chugged the contents of the beer. She let out a big sigh as she finished her beer. Standing up she made her way to the fridge to grab another beer. As she reached into the fridge for the 'holy' drink Misato's mind started cranking gears. 'When the hell did Shinji start teasing me?' She was a bit surprised that her charge, who had been for the most part anti-social since coming to Tokyo-3, had made…a joke. Sighing, she decided it was too early to do any thinking that wasn't simple. And examining Shinji's sudden new sense of humor wasn't on her list.

* * *

The morning went by just how Shinji remembered. He surprised his two friends: Toji and Kensuke by informing them that they were taking a small field trip and that Misato was their chaperoned. Shinji found great amusement in seeing his two friends drool over a smiling Misato, who noted their apparent affections but didn't comment, while they stuttered their responses.

Shinji closed his eyes as he took in the smell of salt. Over the Pacific Ocean Shinji felt calm. Surprising it was considering his last impression on the ocean. He sighed to himself as he remembered Asuka. Memories both his own and hers flowing through his mind.

Because of instrumentality Shinji knew just about everything. If anything it would be so much easier to explain what he didn't know than what knowledge he had gained. 'Asuka…' Shinji mumbled in a soft tone inside of his mind as his world went black.

_

* * *

_

Shinji stood in front of Asuka who lay on a white hospital bed with numerous machines attached around her still body.

"_Misato and Ayanami scare me." He had said hoping that the young woman would turn to him, glare, and call him an idiot for being afraid of them and for waking her up. "Help me." Shinji pleaded softly to the one person who he believed understood him the most. "Help me, Asuka." He pleaded more. Despite his words she still remained motionless._

_Shinji slowly reached forward and gently grasped her shoulder. "Hey," He softly speaks as he slowly starts to shake her. "Wake up." Shinji begs. "Hey…"He starts to shake her harder. "Wake up!" He pleas and begs to her. "Hey, hey." His shaking becomes even harder. "Asuka…Asuka…Asuka!" He momentarily pauses as he starts crying over her comatose body. A small part of the sobbing boy wishes she would wake up and start calling him a cry baby anything, just so he wouldn't feel completely alone. _

"_Help me." He begs once more. "Please help me." Still Asuka remains unaware of Shinji begging her to awaken. "Help me." He repeats for the hundredth time. "Help me. Help me." He continues to supplicate her. "Tell me I'm stupid like you always do all the time!" Her quietness irks him. "Hey!" He shouts as he pulls even harder on her. Shinji's eyes widen at what happened; her hospital gown had ripped open revealing her well developed chest. _

_Still at this turn of events Asuka remained silent; the only sound that could be heard while Shinji stared at her with disbelief was that of machines with their constant steady beeps. He slowly backed away his eyes still trained on the still form of the Great Asuka Langley Soryu. Reaching the door Shinji fumbled with for the knob. Instead of opening the door and vacating the room like he should have; Shinji turned the lock and sealed the room. _

_What occurs next Shinji barely even remembers doing. But he can see it, almost as if he were watching TV. He can clearly see him undoing his belt, unzipping his pants, pulling his penis out and begins jerking off over the still girl. _

* * *

"Shinji you alright, man?"Toji asked with concern.

"Huh? Shinji blinked as he looked at his friend who was wearing his usual clothes with an extra addition; a cap. "Why do you ask?" Shinji tired to ask nonchalantly.

"Well…" Toji seemed a bit hesitant. "You're crying." Toji stated after a second of fumbling with his words. Toji watched as his friend gasped and reached for his own face, and indeed Shinji felt tears. Embarrassed he wiped them away. "Are…are you…okay?" Toji asked a bit cautiously.

"Yea…I'm fine." Shinji muttered with a soft voice as he turned away. Toji for once shuts up. He knows that when a man catches another man crying that it wasn't supposed to be spoken of, unless the crying party wanted to talk about it. Shinji obliviously didn't want to speak about it. So Toji left it alone and decided to get a little bit of rest for they still, according to Misato and the pilot, had a few hours left before they reached their destination.

Shinji sighed as he watched the familiar scenery. Sure it was nice to look at, but after hours of doing nothing but, it tends to get boring. He just wanted to get to the ship; he wanted to see Asuka, alive and well. Not what he had seen after the Eva Series were done with her. Shinji unconsciously clenched his fist at the thought. That sight had been the last straw, after that he just wanted to die.

Shinji mentally shook his head at those dark thoughts. Kaworu had apparently sent him back for a reason. 'I have to…I will save them all.' He looked over at a snoozing Toji. Past the 'dumb jock' he saw Kensuke recording things with his camera. Shinji smiled softly. Turning forward Shinji caught sight of his mother figure. Misato to seemed to have dozed off, one wouldn't think that the woman didn't have it in her to hurt a fly considering the peaceful look on her soft beautiful face. 'Whatever it takes.' Shinji thought as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes for some shut-eye as well.

* * *

"Shinji, wake up." Shinji felt someone shaking him softly. He felt stiff, sleeping in that chair had probably been the most uncomfortable surface he had ever had the displeasure of sleeping on. Yawning he stretched, he felt a bit drained. Not only had he slept on the terrible surface, his sleep had been anything but peaceful. 'Nightmares' Shinji mentally grimaced at the images he had seen during his slumber. Shinji looked into the somewhat concern face of Misato. "Are you okay?"

Shinji nodded. "Yea," He responded a bit drained. "Just that seat isn't the most comfortable thing in the world." He said a bit sheepishly as he halfway lied.

Misato smiled understandingly and seemed to buy the lie. "Alright, come on. Let's get going I have a surprise for you guys." Misato said with a Cheshire cat-like grin. 'Maybe they'll hit it off. Shinji could use a girlfriend. And someone like Asuka might just be what he needs to get out of his shell.' She thought a bit gleefully.

As the group of three teenagers and one adult walked aboard the ship they were greeted by small gust of winds. Shinji enjoyed the soft breeze as Kensuke moved around at a speed Shinji didn't recall possessing during gym class. Toji stuffed his hands in his pockets, a bit peeved at his friend's enthusiasm. He didn't see what the big deal was. 'This rust bucket shouldn't even be on the ocean.' Toji sighed as he felt a stronger gust of wind push against him.

'Crap!' Shinji mentally cursed. "Toji hold on to your ha-!" but it was too late. The breeze had already picked up the cap.

"Hey!" Toji yelled as he started to chase his cap. "Get back here!" He yelled. The gusty wind moved his cap through the air, almost like it was playing with it. Every time Toji would near the hat the wind would pick up, almost as if it were teasing him.

Shinji gulped as the cap ended up under the pink high hill of a very attractive red head he knew all too well. 'That dress.' Shinji remembered it as well. He would admit that it was a very good one; this certain dress showed all of her curves and it hugged them in all the right places.

Shinji felt his throat dry, the look in her eye, even though she was looking at Misato he felt like her eyes were on him. Almost ready to pounce on him for apologizing or whatever he was doing that annoyed her. She always knew how to evoke fear, admiration, and many other feelings from Shinji. And right now Shinji was entranced by her beauty and afraid of her personality. He knew that she found his personality to be annoying, but it was also why she had him around. 'To feel better about herself.' He thought a bit bitterly. Shinji sighed. He had no right to be ticked at being used by her. He had done much worse to her. Shinji turned his head slightly away from her. 'I don't even deserve to be near her.'

"Well hello Misato, how have you been?" The redhead questioned. Shinji felt his heartbeat increase. The voice she held, it was confident and strong. Not like it had been when the 15th broke her sprit.

"I've been good."Misato responded casually. "I'm surprised at how big you've gotten." Misato commented taking in her old charges appearance. "Last time I saw you, you were about this tall." She said showing just how 'tall' she had been.

Asuka smirked. "Not only have I gotten taller, but my figure has also filled out nicely." Asuka said in a pride full voice as she gestured to her body. Shinji glanced at her and resisted the urge to drool. He would not stoop to Toji and Kensuke's level.

Misato took this time to enter 'business mode.' "Allow me to introduce you;" She said turning to her current charge and his friends. "This is the pilot of Evangelion Unit 2, having more training then all of the current pilots, The Second Child, Asuka Langley Soryu." She said as Asuka smirked at the idiot trio as she would later dub them.

Shinji felt the wind pick up. 'Good god!' He realized 'How could I forget this part?' He questioned as he wondered if he should look upon the wind blowing up her skirt. 'Okay Shinji, think rationally. This is Asuka we're talking about.' Shinji was quite certain that he would get slapped regardless if he were staring or not. As he felt the wind pick up even more his answer was decided.

*Smack*

*Smack*

*Smack*

Though it's just a slap, nothing ever hurts more than when a girl slaps you. Shinji had personally felt the pain of getting his arm blasted off in the assault with the 14th Angel. And sure that pain may have probably been one of the worst physical pains he had ever felt. But he knew that a slap delivered from Asuka was quite painful.

"Hey! What the hell was that for!" Toji demanded, already not liking the redhead, who at the moment had a bit of an irked expression.

Shinji sighed to himself as he nursed his sore cheek. 'This won't turn out pretty.'

"That would be the viewing fee, cheap, don't you think?" Asuka questioned the enraged stooge as if he were stupid.

'Quite worth it.' Shinji stated in his mind.

"It's over priced!" Toji shouted at the redhead. 'I'll show this arrogant bitch!' Toji firmly said in his mind as he prepared to undo his belt. 'No one smacks me and my boys around without paying the price!'

But before he could do anything Shinji had stepped forward in a bold move and extended his hand "I-I'm Shinji Ikari. Pilot of E-Eva U-uni-unit 1. Pl-plea-pleased to me-meet yo-you." Shinji said in a false shy like voice. 'That's right; allow her to think she's on top. The best way to get her out of her anger (and to save Toji's life) is to make her think she's superior.'

Asuka blinked at this boy. 'That's the pilot of Eva Unit 1? The one who's been slaying the Angels is this stuttering boy!' Asuka didn't know wither to laugh or feel insulted. 'If this is the guy who's been killing the Angels then "Saving" the world will be a cake walk for me.' Asuka deciding it would be rude to not take his extended hand. With a smile Asuka reached forward and grabbed his hand in a firm grip. 'Could be worse, I'd rather have this kid as my backup, than that stupid monkey.' She thought with instant distaste for Toji. "Nice to meet you. I am Asuka Langley Soryu; I hope you'll be capable of watching my back on the field." She said in a somewhat fake cheery voice.

"Hai." Shinji said in a submissive tone. "I th-think this is the st-start of a bea-beautiful and won-wonderful partnership." He in his own fake cheery voice. 'Oh boy, this is going to be a pain in the ass.' He knew it would be hard to handle her amplified personality. Over the course of the first few months she had simmered down a bit, a bit not being much. 'But it might not be easy to reestablish a friendship with her again.'

Toji watched in shock as the two Eva Pilots conversant in a dignified matter. But something felt off to him. 'Shinji…is never that cheery.' Though Toji wasn't book smart, he could read people he knew well. 'Either I don't know him as well as I thought I did, or Shinji's being fake.' But why? What reason would Shinji have to act fake around this bitch? AHHH, I can't think on an empty stomach!' And just like that the Toji who thought with his stomach was back.

* * *

The group of four teens and one adult made their way to the bridge. As they got to the door, Shinji watched his guardian knock on the door. Then quickly zipped and buttoned up her jacket. Shinji also watched her pull out a red beret out of her pocket and swiftly placed it on her head.

The door opened just as Misato was finished with her quick additions to her outfit. Shinji noted the snide look they received from the first mate. "Ah, I thought you were the leader of these kids." The Captain of the ship directed his snide remark to Misato. Shinji sighed as he remembered how these people weren't so fond of Nerv. "But now I see I was wrong." The old man muttered.

Shinji for a second time was quite amazed with how the violet haired woman handled this man. "Thank you for understanding, Captain." Misato said in the sweetest fakest voice Shinji had ever heard. But Shinji was sure that after the Angel wars were over that his guardian could be an actress.

'Damn, Asuka should take some notes, that's true acting right there.'

"No, no, Thank you so much for bringing in the scouts for my crew and I to babysit." The Captain said a bit bitterly to Misato who's right eye twitched slightly at the disrespect she received from the old sea harden man.

Still making use of her sweet voice for all it was worth Misato pressed on. "We appreciate your assistance with the marine transport of Evangelion Unit 2." Shinji swore if this was another time Misato really could have been an actress. "Here are the specifications for use of the EPC (Emergency Power Cable (or Cord))" The violet haired woman said handing him the forms.

"Hahaha!" The Captain started laughing in a mocking tone at her. "I wouldn't even dream of allowing you to run that toy on the sea if you paid me a million dollars!" At that Shinji could see that Misato was about ready to strangle the man. He also noted Asuka was slightly glaring at the man.

"Just consider it as a last resort, in the case of an "EMERGENCY." Misato said as she restrained herself from killing the man, she knew it wouldn't worth being court marshaled for killing the miserable old man.

"It is against such emergencies that the pacific fleet is supposed to guard!" The Captain losing his cool countered. "Since when in the hell did we get demoted to a cargo ship?" The Captain muttered a bit cynically.

At that Shinji felt pity for the old man. He may not have known the Captain of the Pacific Fleet, but his heart strings were pulling for the man. Scanning through his memories he picked up from Instrumentally Shinji could see that the man's job became even worse as the Angel wars escalated and his fleet truly was demoted to cargo. '…' Nothing he could do. A small part of him wished he could, but he was just a teenager.

"I'm sure it was after a certain organization was established." The first mate muttered.

"Guarding a toy isn't the grand assignment that the Pacific Fleet should be doing!"

Misato countered with a snort. "Considering Eva's importance it feels a bit lacking." She said losing a bit of her cool. "Will you please sign these papers?" Misato said with an irritated sigh.

"Not yet." The Captain answered with a snort. "At the request of the third branch of Germany, both Eva Unit 2 and its pilot are under the jurisdiction of this fleet. I won't allow you to do as you please."

Shinji, if the time were appropriate would openly applaud his guardian's sense of control. Really, even Shinji with his small amount of pity for the Pacific Fleet was starting to get annoyed. "Then when do you plan to give up control?" She asked her patience thinned.

"We'll relinquish command once we have unloaded at Shin-Yokosuka." The first mate announced.

"Until then, on the sea you follow our rules and regulations without question." The Captain continued in a somewhat smug tone. "We're in charge."

"Very well." Misato sighed, and then a smirk made its way to her face. "But in case of emergency don't forget that Nerv's authority overrides yours." Misato said in her own smug voice.

Shinji gulped at the glare the Captain shot at Misato. The tension was so thick that it really could be cut with a knife. Cliché yes, but true. Even Asuka was aware of the tension; Shinji could see her in a bit of a defensive stance. Not as if she was expecting a battle, but she didn't hide her hostility. "Gallant as ever, Katsuragi." A familiar voice to Shinji as well as Misato and Asuka broke out.

Shinji slowly turned and saw him. 'Ryoji Kaji.' Thanks to Instrumentality Shinji knew that Kaji would be his biggest ally in this hell. If he could convince Kaji to turn against SEELE, Shinji would have his friend's safety guaranteed. 'But I can't confront him just yet.' Shinji knew that Kaji was an honest…okay he wasn't what you would call honest. But he was a decent man. 'I can't confront him yet, no, I have to play my cards carefully.' Right now Shinji knew that he was playing both sides. 'Both my father and Keel.' Shinji sighed. He knew that it wouldn't be too hard to get Kaji's help. 'Especially with Misato around and my knowledge of the future.' Shinji mentally groaned. He didn't like those thoughts. '…They make me sound…like a manipulative bastard.' Almost like…his father.

"Kaji-san!" Shinji sighed at the redheaded teen. He of course forgot about Asuka's affections.

"Kaji-kun! I insisted that you not personally invite yourself to the bridge!" The Captain reprimanded the unshaven man.

"I apologize." Kaji said with a lazed grin that clearly stated that he was not sorry.

* * *

The group of four teens and two adults made their way to the small café on the ship. Shinji mentally laughed as he saw his two friends seated themselves next to Misato as Kaji, Asuka, and Shinji seated themselves. "So…" Kaji started casually. "Seeing anyone?" He asked nonchalantly as he tapped his old flames leg.

"Not sure if that's really your business." Misato icily said as she retracted her leg away from the long pony-tail haired man.

"Cruel as ever, Katsuragi." Ryoji said feigning false hurt. Setting his eyes on the Third Child seated next to Asuka, Kaji decided to see what Shinji was about. 'The boy's been quite the whole time.' But Kaji had noted that he seemed to hold some sort of interest in the redhead. Kaji had seen him glancing at her discreetly since leaving the bridge and upon arriving here. In fact he was still doing it, though Asuka seemed not to notice, or she didn't care. 'He even sat next to her.' Kaji mused. "So…I hear you're living with Katsuragi." Kaji commented offhandedly.

"That's right." Shinji said while, without anyone, minus Kaji, seeing taking his eyes off the great view that was Asuka and looking Kaji in the eye. 'I don't like that smile…' Shinji realized as he saw the grin Kaji was giving him. 'Crap, he didn't give me that smile last time around.' Shinji stated in his mind small amount of fear clouding his thoughts. He couldn't be found out so early. 'Did he see me staring at Asuka?' Shinji mentally sighed as the fear lessened. 'Well he is a spy, guess nothing gets pass him.'

"So tell me…" Kaji playfully raises his eyebrows. "Does Katsuragi still toss and turn in bed?"

Shinji honestly doesn't know how such a comment had passed over his head last time around, sure a bit perverted it was; he couldn't lie, it was kinda funny. 'And also the looks on their faces are priceless.' Shinji thought to himself as the three other teens backed away and shared the same shocked faces.

"W-wh-what are yo-you implying?" An enraged Misato accused the forever unshaven man as she slammed her palms on the table.

"Well…" Shinji slowly started out. Then he paused for a split second. 'Shit.'

'What the?' Asuka mentally questioned as she saw that he was well composed. 'No stutter or a blush. He didn't even stagger.'

'Shit, gotta stick with it!' Shinji mentally groaned. "She does keep me up half the night." He commented nonchalantly. Though Shinji was a bit ticked that he had slightly blown the false personality he gave Asuka he had a hard time holding in his laughter as he saw Misato's jaw drop, Kaji choke on his coffee, and the two of the three stooges pass out. Though one expression that he didn't like was Asuka's, she seemed to be glaring at him. As though she was trying to figure him out.

'Was zum Teufel?' (What the hell!) The German mentally questioned. She was surprised at the Third Child. She had thought him to be a door mat, espcially on their first meeting. But now she saw that was possibly a lie. 'Aber warum sollte er so tun, als so schüchtern und fröhlich?' (But why would he pretend to be shy and cheery?) She wondered as to why he would act so fake on their first meeting. 'I need to watch him.' Asuka decided. For she knew that something was really up with this boy.

"Shinji what the hell are you talking about?" A red faced Misato asked with rage in her voice.

"Well with all that snoring, the first night i moved in i thought that the next door neighbor was using a wood chipper." Shinji off handedly said.

At that moment Kaji busted out laughing. Ten seconds and already he knew that he liked the kid. 'This will be quite interesting.' Kaji concluded as he calmed down from his laughter. 'Hell, he even got Asuka to laugh.' The red head in question was covering her mouth with her hand trying and failing to suppress the giggle for she knew that he probably wasn't exaggerating. And as for Misato…well her jaw had made friends with the floor. "Well, I must say, I wasn't expecting you to have a sense of humor. Kid you and I are going to get along just fine."

"This is a nightmare." Misato groaned quietly as she clutched her head. "I swear if I wake up this instant I'll never touch beer again."

* * *

Asuka ran across the deck of the ship, she was searching for the Third Child. At first she hadn't really cared much for meeting another Evangelion Pilot. Upon meeting him she figured he was a shy boy, but the experience at the café proved that he was probably fake. And now she was completely intrigued. 'Über 40% Mein Gott!' (Over 40%, my god!) She mentally exclaimed as she dashed across the ship.

_Asuka leaned on the guard rail as Kaji warned her to be careful and not fall off. She ignored him as she dwelled into her own thoughts. 'Shinji Ikari.' That boy was interesting to say the least. 'His personality was that of apathy upon seeing me.' He had a very stoic look at the time. 'Then as his friend was apparently about to do something stupid, and then he steps in, with a false cheery and shy attitude.' Might she add. 'Then making such a crude joke.' Asuka's eyes narrowed. Something didn't add up, she was a college grad, and she couldn't figure out Shinji Ikari. 'No I just need to wa…' She stopped mid thought. 'Then there's that distinct look he's been discreetly giving me all day.' _

_The redhead had noticed him glancing at her all day. At first she figured it was probably because she was the best thing he had ever seen. 'Naturally.' She thought with a small arrogant smirk. So she had said nothing, for she had many guys stare at her. 'But…' The look he gave her was different. It wasn't a look of lust or admiration…it looked almost like…pity, no fear. That seemed like the more appropriate description. 'But fear of what?' Asuka wondered to herself._

"_So what do you think about Shinji-kun?" She heard her all time crush ask. _

_Asuka sighed as he had mentioned the exact person on her thoughts and not complimented the dress she had worn for him. She sighed mentally as she knew that it was impossible to gain his affections. "He's…different." She decided. 'I don't think I've ever met a boy who would stare at me in fear when I haven't even done anything to them.' Asuka thought with the roll of her eyes. Sure she had seen people look at her with fear, but usually it was because she had done something to them. _

"_Yes he is. Without training he was able to achieve a synch of over forty percent." Kaji said to the redhead while examining her reaction. _

"_Not possible!" Asuka had yelled as she nearly lost her balance. _

* * *

Shinji stood on the lower deck, he watched the water sway back and forth. The ocean looked quite peaceful. Shinji smiled to himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets. 'What in the world?' Shinji thought to himself as he felt something hard in one of his pockets. Slowly he retracted his hand from his pocket.

Shinji gasped for what was in his right hand was a small white blood stained cross. 'Misato…' Shinji felt a tear leave his eye.

_Shinji felt his back hit the door to the elevator. He felt the wounded Misato pressed against him. Shinji looked away shyly as he couldn't meet her eyes. "Shinji, I need you to listen." Misato said ignoring the pain in her arm where she had been shot. "From here on out, you're on your own." Misato announced. "That means that you need to make hard decisions by yourself. "_

_Shinji softly responded. "I…can't." He had said. "I can't pilot Eva if all I seem to do is hurt and kill others." He had sadly announced. "I once thought that I only had one choice; pilot Eva, but all I was doing was lying." Shinji said still unable to look her in the eye. "I don't deserve to pilot Eva because I don't understand anything!" Shinji had yelled the events of the past months too much to bear. "I am incapable of doing a good deed." He sniffed. "I did something awful to Asuka. I killed Kaworu." Shinji said announcing his sins as he felt tears leave his eyes. "I am a disgusting person." He had announced for he at the time felt it was an accurate description. "I am dishonest. I am a coward. All I ever do is hurt others, so I'd rather do nothing!" _

"_I won't feel sorry for you." Misato calmly announced finally speaking. "If you don't like pain, then you may as well just sit here and die." She cruelly said and then Shinji sniffed as more visible tears appeared. "Crying won't do you any good, either!" She shouted as his tears started to increase. She relaxed a bit. "You hate yourself?" She questioned softly. "That's the reason as to why you hurt others. Deep down you know that you suffer more…" She trailed off. "When you cause someone else pain, than if you just let yourself get hurt. But that was YOUR decision, so that means it was a valid choice." She continued to speak softly as a mother speaking to her child. "That was what you wanted, so that makes it worthwhile. Stop lying to yourself and realize you do have options." She announced harshly. Then switched back to her soft voice. "Then accept the choices you have made."_

"_You're not me!" The weeping young boy had accused. "You can never understand!"_

_She gasped at his yell. Pushing him harder against the wall she shouted. "What does it matter if I'm not you?" She had yelled in his face. "That doesn't make it right for you to give up!" Misato accused her charge. She tightened the grip around his shoulders. "If you do that, then…I will NEVER forgive you, Shinji Ikari. As long as I breathe I could never forgive you." She spoke in hysterical breathes. "I know that I am far from perfect." She told him of how she had made stupid mistakes and later regretted them. "And I've repeated them many times." She said as she resisted the urge to cry. "A cycle of hollow joy and vicious self-hatred. But even so, every time I learned something new about myself." Shinji watched her with wide eyes. "Please, Shinji." She pleaded softly. "You need to pilot once more. End this, save us all." She had asked. "Find out your reason as to why you are here. What is your reason for existing? And once you have those answers, come back to me." She whispered to him. _

_Shinji felt something placed into his hand. "Promise me." She said as she placed the white cross she always wore in his hand. Shinji nodded slowly. "…See you soon." Misato said as she leaned her head forward and softly captured his lips in a soft and loving kiss. Shinji felt her arms wrapped around him, he felt the soft pink tongue of his guardian prod his lips begging for entrance into his mouth, Shinji parted his lips to allow his guardian's tongue access into his mouth. This kiss was different than his kiss with Asuka. Misato's was much sweeter; this was a softer and more gentle kiss. Shinji wasn't fighting for breath this time. Shinji felt her tongue skillfully and slowly interacted with his own. _

_To Shinji the situation seemed quite ludicrous. Sure in the beginning he had fantasized about Misato once or twice. Who wouldn't? She was a very good looking woman. But now he could never see her as a lover, he couldn't ever fathom that possibility. But that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy the kiss. And just as the sweet pleasure that had entered his mouth had been there, it was gone. _

"_That was an adult kiss." Misato mumbled in a soft breathless yet seductive voice against his lips. "We'll finish the rest when you come back, K?" She said in a somewhat teasing voice that was still as soft as earlier. Then the door to the elevator opened and Misato pushed Shinji in. _

_Shinji gasped as he finally understood it all. Misato was…she had…_

_Shinji stared in disbelief at her soft smiling face as the door closed with a swish, and the elevator shot upwards. Shinji couldn't believe it. 'She had known.' Misato had known that she would die. That's why she pushed me forward. Shinji realized as he softly touched his lips. He could still feel a bit of a tingling sensation from when she had kissed him. 'She believes in me.' His hand gripped over the blood stained cross. 'Misato's cross.' Shinji felt the elevator shake as an explosion shook the building. 'Misato!' Shinji fought the tears coming he wanted to break down and cry for the closet thing he ever had to a mother. 'No.' Shinji couldn't. He couldn't allow her sacrifice to be in vain. Shinji felt the elevator stop as it reached its destination. 'I still have someone to protect. I still owe Asuka that much. I can't stop just yet.' Shinji placed the cross around his neck and walked toward the cages. _

_But upon coming there Shinji found that his resolve had been crushed by the giant purple beast that was covered in a thick layer of Bakelite. 'No…' This isn't right. 'Misato…I'm sorry.' And he fell to his knees. As the tears slowly seeped out of his eyes his mind went to Misato and Asuka. 'I can't even help Asuka. And I let you die.' He wanted to yell but he couldn't. Shinji, all he felt was numbness. _

* * *

Shinji felt the tears cascading down his face. He now stood with his hand over the rail, in his grasped hand was the cross necklace. Shinji wanted to drop it, and forget the painful memory. 'I…I can't.' He slowly retracted his hand. Staring at the small blood stained necklace. 'I can't just forget. No, I have to carry this memory. No matter how painful.' Shinji thought as he placed his closed fist with the necklace over his heart.

"Third Child!" Shinji stiffened at Asuka's loud voice. He cursed as he quickly placed the item in his pocket.

'Crap, she can't be allowed to see that!' Shinji knew that Misato's necklace was a one of a kind necklace. And he hardly believed that Asuka would buy the "She gave it to me." Though it wouldn't be a complete lie.

"…" She paused as she noted his posture. He was hiding something she decided. She had also seen him place something in his pocket. "What was that?"

Shinji feigned a confused look. "What was what?" He asked confused. 'That's right Shinji, play stupid. It's the safest route…maybe.'

"The thing you just put in your pocket." Asuka stated like he was an idiot.

Shinji moved to the side slightly. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Asuka." Shinji said as he saw that she had mimicked his move and blocked his exit. 'Damn, I might be screwed.' This wasn't looking good. He knew she had her suspicious, if she saw that necklace he would be screwed real quick. Now wasn't the time for her to know the truth of him. Shinji narrowed his eyes, he couldn't fail. 'No way, I'll protect my friends. I can't back down so easily.' Shinji thought to himself as he prepared the most difficult task no man should have to suffer; going against the wishes of Asuka Langley Soryu. Though for Shinji this would be tougher than for any other man. 'I really know how to pick 'em, don't I?' Shinji asked jokingly in his mind.

"Just tell me what it is." Asuka stated a bit softer, trying to see if this different approach would work. She saw Shinji hesitate.

"It's…it's something personal…Someone very important gave it to me…sorry." Shinji quietly said as he backed slightly away from her and was now standing against the rail.

Asuka sighed; she guessed she could respect his personal space. Obliviously it was something important, she'd only now just noticed the dried tear stains under his eyes. "FI-." At that the ship started rocking back and forth. Asuka screamed as she tried to steady her balance.

'Shit!' Shinji knew what was happening. He felt the ship tipping slightly; it angled at a diagonal angle. He grabbed onto the rail to prevent from falling.

"AHHH!" Shinji cursed as he heard Asuka scream.

Quickly the boy locked his eyes onto Asuka and saw that the redhead was hanging over the railing. He saw that she was slowly starting to slip. If he didn't do anything Asuka would fall into the ocean. He dashed towards her and grabbed her wrist just as she lost her grip on the rail.

"Asuka, hang on!" Shinji yelled to Asuka as she now dangled over the edge. Shinji could see fear in her eyes.

"Sh-Shin-Shinji…don't let go." She said, now for the first time saying his name. "Don't let me die…" She softly said as she looked downward, she for the first time in ten years resisted the urge to cry. 'Not here!' She shouted in her mind that she wouldn't cry.

Shinji could now see the Angel going after one of the other ships a bit further from them. "Asuka, I promise you." He said in a determined and soft voice while looking into her bright blue orbs. Asuka fought the heat in her cheeks. "You won't die. As long as I'm alive there's no need to fear for your life, trust me." Shinji asked of her. 'I have no right to ask for trust.' He stated a bit gloomy in his mind. But he did see Asuka nodded confirming that she had heard his words. 'Alright. We need to get to the Eva.' And Shinji knew the quickest way.

'What is this?' Asuka felt a thump in her chest at Shinji's words. She trusts him. She mentally gasped. 'I trust him?' She couldn't believe it. She hadn't trusted anyone in years. Not even Kaji had her complete trust, but right now she trusted Shinji with her life. "Alright Shinji I trust you." The redhead said with a soft smile.

"Alright, now we need to head to Unit 2 as fast as possible." She felt Shinji move forward.

"What are yo-?" Asuka screamed as she felt him jump over the edge and grab her, Shinji wrapped his arms firmly around the redhead's waist so they wouldn't be separated after the fall. She screamed as they headed for the ocean. 'I'm crazy for trusting this kid!' Asuka decided as they hit the ocean.

**

* * *

**

A few after notes. All translations came from Google, I'm sorry if they're not correct. I did the best I could. Ummm, I want to ask you guys to try and review. Okay, I've only got about eight. And I would like to double that number before I upload again. Though I doubt that that certain goal will be accomplished. Oh well, if you guys don't there won't be any penalty, I'm not an asshole who withholds updates, but I want to hear you're guy's voices. I want to know if this is better than the first attempt. So please try and leave a review.


	4. Asuka stikes once again

**Here is the first chapter a little early since I won't be able to update on Friday. This is probably the point where you should stop expecting a weekly update. Because I'm probably going to start updating every two weeks. At least until I can catch up and write a few more chapters. **

**Anyway I want to address something, well more like ask everyone something. You see I've been unable to upload any new stories the past few days. And I'm curious is it only me who's having this problem or is it everyone. I've tried uploading on my own computer and my dad's computer. And it won't let me upload any new stories. So if anyone knows if this is because the site is undergoing renovations or whatever could you let me know, alright, thanks. **

**To Mister (or Ms., sorry I don't know if you're a boy or a girl.) Cthulhu I thank you for your review. I remember you from my first write of Reloaded. And I'm glad that you're liking this one. I'll admit that I feel that I probably toned down Shinji's reaction to seeing Misato. I probably shouldn't have, but oh well it's done. I guess just say that he had too much on his mind. IDK. Yea, I don't plan on Shinji becoming "Captain amazing" Anytime soon. I am trying to make this a bit more realistic, I mean I don't want Shinji to just blaze though this story and not have any Character Development. Because than this story would be the Eva version of Twilight, and I didn't like Twilight all that much. I'll admit that I did tone down Shinji's knowledge of Instrumentality, but don't think that he didn't gain a lot of knowledge from it, because he did. And throughout the story you'll see what I mean. And I'm trying to stem away from the original, by making alternant scenes, believe me for the most part it is almost going to be a re-read of RELOADED, but I want to make it even better than RELOADED, because I still have some of the chapters I could have posted, but I saw that the story was slowly going downhill so.. Thus the birth of Re-Loaded. I'll admit that I didn't plan on them jumping off the ship, but, eh I wanted to try something different. Wow, this is a long reply, I really wish you had an account, but oh well. And on another note, you say that you'll try and review every chapter, well then I'll try and reply to your reviews. :)**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter four: One again Asuka strikes

Asuka was soaked, that's right, she was soaked. And she was also mad at Shinji. Because of his little idea of them getting to the Eva faster she had gotten her favorite dress soaked. And it was see through upon them getting to the right ship. She had thoroughly threatened to kill him if he so much as breathed a word to anyone. 'Gotta admit.' Shinji did get them there very quick. 'Thank god the current lead us to the right ship, or we would have been lost at sea.' Hell here she was preparing the final checkups while he got dressed into her spare plug suit. 'That'll teach him.' She decided that being dressed in a female's plug suit was a suitable punishment for doing what he had without warning her first. 'And for getting a free show.' Asuka nodded at that thought. It seems like a fair punishment. 'I'm sure he'll be in some pain down there.' She thought with a gleeful smirk. She knew that female plug suits were made to have room for the chest area, while male plug suits were made with extra room down stairs.

* * *

"_We can change here." A completely drenched Asuka had said as they got to a deserted room. "I'll change first." Asuka said as she placed a duffle bag onto the bed. "Now get out." The silently raged redheaded German ordered in a dangerously low voice. _

'_Damn…' Shinji mentally said as he stood outside. 'I guess she didn't like the swim.' Shinji was glad for the memories he had gained from Instrumentality. Because of it he could actually swim now. 'Thank you Michael Phelps.' The brown haired boy thought with a smirk. 'In a way my knowledge is power; the person who came up with that saying knew what he was talking about.' Shinji mentally chuckled as he shivered slightly from the cold, for he was still drenched. 'Maybe taking a dip wasn't the smartest idea.' He realized as he sneezed._

_Seconds later Asuka dressed in a plug suit that acted as a second skin. Shinji mentally noted that her hair was still a bit wet from their swim. "Get changed." She had said. Then she was gone._

Shinji sighed as he stared at the red plug suit. 'I hope I don't get an erection like last time…' Shinji sighed as he started to change.

'Tight.' It was painfully tight down stairs. 'Next time I go back in time I'm making sure to bring a spare plug suit on this trip!'

Shinji noted the yellow duffle bag on the bed. He could see that Asuka's dress was in there despite it being soaked. But it wasn't the dress that caught his attention it was what was on top of it. 'A…note?' He picked up the small folded piece of paper.

Hey Third Child. Whatever it was…

Shinji sighed as he saw that her handwriting was as sloppy as ever. 'Her Kanji is really terrible.' Shinji considered the possibility of offering to teach her. 'Maybe not, that girl is too proud.' Shinji sighed frustrated with himself. 'Really, I know how to pick 'em.' Shinji sarcastically thought to himself as he attempted to decipher the letter.

Whatever it was that you hid from me, just put it in this bag.

No I won't look at it, I can tell that it hold some sort of importance for you. 

I'm not even sure if this ship will survive the battle. And you can't take your clothes with us for there isn't enough room.

But obliviously that thing is important to you, and I'm sure that you should at least be able to take that thing with you. 

Sincerely Asuka Soryu.

"I really do know how to pick 'em." Shinji softly says as he smiles. It was a small gesture like that reminded Shinji of the person he had fallen for. "Asuka…thanks." He said as placed the blood stained cross in the duffle bag, closed it, grabbed the bag, and vacated the room.

* * *

Shinji walked up to the red Eva, he felt a bit of bile built up in his stomach as he watched the red beast being prepped by Asuka. He could see it so easily.

"_Kill you all, I'll kill you all, I'll kill you all!" Asuka repeated over and over again like a mantra. Shinji watched as her gutted Eva raised its arm toward the Eva Series as if trying to reach them. And then it she was silenced by multiple spears piercing her Eva._

"Third Child!" Shinji was snapped out of his thoughts by Asuka's loud voice. "Nice outfit." She commented now that she finally had his attention, Shinji noted that she made no comment about the note, most likely she had too much pride to admit that she somewhat cared about something important to him. Shinji glared at her best he could. "Kill joy." Asuka casually said as she saw his expression. "Let's get going." Shinji briskly nodded.

* * *

On the main ship's bridge it was chaos. People were firing everything they had at the Angel and yet they're weapons were for the most part useless. "Keep firing!" The Captain ordered.

"Hello, Nerv delivery," Misato's honey covered voice sounded. "Are you the one who ordered data and countermeasures against an unbeatable enemy?" Misato questioned as though he were a child.

"Get off the bridge!" The old ocean harden man ordered. "Authorized personnel during battle only!"

"My eyes and ears say that this is the work of an Angel." Misato calmly told the Captain.

The Captain just blocked her out. "All Ships fire!" He ordered.

"Waste of time." Misato quietly said. In Misato's mind there wasn't any reason for the Angel to be here that she could think of. 'Why is it here?' She wondered. The only logical explanation was Eva Unit 2. But she wasn't so sure of that hypnoses '…'

* * *

Shinji groaned in the plug. "Shoot me." He pleaded. This plug suit was just as terrible as the last time. 'Next time I go back in time I am defiantly bringing a spare male plug suit with me on this trip.'

"Stop whining." Asuka barked. "I trusted you, now you have to trust me." The redhead said a bit irritated with his constant moaning.

Shinji sighed internally. He knew that her giving her trust was a big deal. 'Fairs fair.' He decided. 'After all I did get rewarded for her trust…and reprimanded.' He felt the sting in his other cheek from where she had slapped him.

Ryoji Kaji swiftly and quietly packed his belongings. The Commander had recommended he vacate the boat quickly as possible. "…" The unshaven man did feel a bit bad about leaving the kids behind to fight this enemy but he knew that staying wouldn't help. 'Not with what I have.' Kaji knew that if he stayed he would only succeed in aiding the Angel in the number of killed people. 'I'm sure they can take it down.' Ryoji was quite sure this wouldn't be his first and last meeting with the famous Shinji Ikari.

He had noted something felt odd about the young man. 'His eyes.' Kaji silently said as he finished packing and headed towards the helicopter that was prepped for him. 'He has the eyes of a man who's seen more than he should have to.' He knew that there was more to Shinji that meets the eye. 'I'm not a spy for nothing.' Kaji playfully said in his mind.

"I'm assuming that you don't know German, so I'll just change it to Japanese." Asuka said as she adjusted the language. "Now sit back and watch the Ace of Nerv work."

"Jawohl Mein Fuhrer." The brown haired boy muttered as he watched Asuka going through the activation process. 'I'm kinda surprised that she actually changed the language to Japanese.' He could see that she had heard his remark and narrowed her eyes slightly in response but did not comment.

'He's a fricken smart ass!' She yelled in her mind. 'Still though.' She mused as she neared the end of the startup sequence. 'I'm learning more and more about him…I have a hypothesis about him. He's dishonest.' She theorized as she made a subtle glance at him. 'Not to the point as to he would steal, kill, or something extreme like that. But he wears a mask…' She tightened her grip around the controls. "Evangelion Unit 2, Start" Asuka confidently said in her fluent Japanese tongue. '…wie ich (Like me).' Asuka thought softly in her native German tongue.

* * *

On the bridge Misato watched as the fleet tried in vain to destroy the Angel. "Message received from othero: Evangelion Unit 2 is entering its activation process."

"Alright Asuka!" Misato cheered. Had it been another time she would scold the girl, but she felt like breaking into song as things would hopefully start looking up in this hopeless battle.

"No!" The Captain shouted. "Cancel the start up sequence," He ordered into the mic. "Reset it now!" He ordered trying to regain some semblance of control.

"Belay that order, Asuka. This old fart bag doesn't know what he's talking about, continue the launch!" Misato said as she wrestled the mic out of the Captain's grip.

"Roger!" Asuka's voice broke through the static.

"The Eva and its pilot our under our control. I will not relinquish command to you!" The Captain stated firmly.

"Why do you continue to blab? This isn't the time for that; this is a crisis! Your orders don't mean a damn!" That argument quelled the Captains complaints momentarily.

"Don't forget if we fall in the sea it's all over for us." Shinji said as he assisted Asuka with activating the Eva.

"Well I don't know about you, but I don't plan on taking another dip in the great big ocean." She said a bit snidely.

Having heard snip bits of the conversation Misato's voice crackled to life through the comm. "Shinji?" The violet haired woman said in surprise. "Are you there as well?"

Shinji sighed a bit uncomfortable. "Yea, I'm in here." He said confirming that he indeed was copiloting the Eva with Asuka. Or as Asuka would so kindly call him…her secretary.

"…Watch each other's backs out there." Misato ordered in a calm voice.

"Hai." The two teens replied.

"Asuka, take off!" Misato commanded.

Shinji watched the redheaded German grip the controls. "Let's get going!" She yelled as they took to the sky. Shinji saw the tarp that had been covering the Eva fall into the ocean, as well as other supplies falling into the big deep blue. "Hope ya like hop scotch, Third Child!" Asuka yelled to the Third Child as she maneuvered her Eva from ship to ship.

'I don't like hop scotch…' Shinji realized for a second time.

"We're almost out of power. We got about fifty-eight seconds remaining." Shinji warned as they landed on another ship. Then he caught movement from his peripheral vision. "Angel coming in at the port side!" He warned.

"Great…" Asuka dryly said. "Misato prepare the EPC on the deck." Asuka ordered.

"Working on it." Was Misato's short reply.

Asuka moved the controls forward and the red monster that the crew of the Pacific Fleet would never forget jumped to another ship to avoid the Angel who tore through the Ship. Shinji noted people jumping off the ship seconds before it went underwater.

After twenty seconds of jumping from one ship to another the two children landed on Over the Rainbow. 'Dear god.' Shinji said in his mind. 'Now that is why I had a small breakfast.' The Third Child mumbled in his mind as he fought his up-chuck reflex.

* * *

"Coming in at nine O'clock!" Shinji warned as Asuka plugged the already ready power cable.

"Looks like all we have is the Prog-Knife." Asuka stated as she released her shoulder compartment which revealed a red knife. 'It's more than enough.' Asuka confidently announced to herself. The water Angel increased its speed, and then it jumped into the air. Asuka gasped at how big it was, while Shinji braced for impact. The Fish like Angel slammed into the Eva; Shinji had to give Asuka credit. Even though she wasn't prepared for the impact she held on, sadly Unit 2 slipped on one of the stray planes. "Ahhh!" Asuka screamed out as the Eva was unable to maintain balance.

Underwater. 'Again…' Shinji sighed for he was fairly certain that this would play out how it did last time. 'Oh well.' He thought to himself with a small smile. 'Can't beat perfection.' He thought as he looked at Asuka who was thinking up an attack.

"Asuka!" Misato's voice broke out in the comm. System. "B-Equipment won't operate properly underwater!" She warned the redhead.

"Never know until you try." Asuka replied with confidence.

Back on Over the Rainbow Misato turned to the first mate. "What is the Cable length?" She demanded.

"1,200 feet remain, ma'am!" One of the subordinates replied.

"What will you do now?" The Captain asked a bit sarcastically.

"Asuka!" Misato turned to the mic she was using. "You're almost out of cable, prepare for shock!" The violet haired woman warned.

"Damn it!" Misato heard the redheaded German yell.

"Hey, Katsuragi!" A very familiar voice was heard.

Misato looked out of the window and saw Kaji on the deck near a helicopter. "Kaji!" Misato yelled out. 'Surely he has some sort of plan!' Misato reasoned in her mind. Though Kaji was a bit of a womanizer and lazy excuse for a human being, as Misato kindly would tell people. She knew that he was a decent man.

"I've got an important job to do, so I'll be leaving now!" Kaji shouted as he climbed into the helicopter. Misato felt her eye twitch at his statement. "Good luck!" He yelled as the copter flew away.

"He ran away…" Toji said in a dry voice feeling dislike for the man's cowardly action.

"It's coming back for a second strike." Shinji calmly warned Asuka.

"This time we'll beat it." Asuka said confidently as she pushed her controls forward. No such luck. "It's not working!" She whined desperately as she continued to jerk the controls forward. Shinji gasped.

* * *

"_AH! AH! AH!" The redheaded German shrieked out as she jerked the controls forward, begging her mother to regain motion. But Eva Unit 2 wouldn't respond. Out of her good eye she could see the white monstrosities moving towards her. 'No, no, no!' She continued her struggle. _

_Even as the Eva Series ate her Eva. She screamed out in pain. 'Shi-Shinji…yo-you ha-have to show u-up. Yo-you always do…Please…' Asuka silently begged. Something she didn't do very often. 'Save me…' And he never came as the Evas ravaged her red Eva. _

* * *

"Third Child!" Asuka tried to get Shinji's attention. But she wasn't getting good results; he still had that hazy look he's been sporting for the past few seconds. "Shinji! Snap out of it!" She ordered.

The Third Child gasped. "W-what?" He stuttered.

"You spaced out!" Asuka exclaimed. "What kind of dumbass does that in the middle of battle?" She shouted at the brown haired teen. "How in the hell are you still alive today?"

"Same question I ask myself every day." Shinji muttered ever so quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing." Shinji responded a bit too quickly.

"I heard you say som-!" Just then the Eva shook. "AHH!" The redhead screamed as the two occupants of the Eva responded to the shock. "Damn it!" Asuka yelled as she continued to jerk the controls forward. Shinji gulped as he watched her continue with no results. "Alright Third Child! You're the one with all the combat experience!"

'Don't remind me…'

"So you figure a way for us out of this!" She ordered a bit desperate.

'Let's see, what happened last time?' Shinji silently mused as he took a 'thinking' pose. 'Last time Misato used the two of us as fishing bait…' Shinji mentally shook at that thought. 'It might be the only option. Like Asuka has said before: Why ruin perfection.' Shinji smiled slightly. "We wait." He stated as he turned back towards the Angel.

Asuka sighed in irritation. "I think you're fucking crazy!" She shouted as she turned back towards the Angel only to let out a scream as she saw how close it was. And with its mouth open to reveal a bunch of teeth and a red sphere no less.

* * *

Back on the boat a voice over the PA announced that the Eva had been captured in the targets mouth. "So did they get eaten?" Toji asked curious as to wither his friend was okay. "Kinda like fishing" He said to himself.

"Fishing?" Misato asked as a light bulb appeared over her head.

* * *

Shinji sighed as Asuka got pissed. 'Just like last time.' He thought as Asuka started screaming.

"Get off me, you perverted jerk!" The redhead ordered as she started slapping him.

"Stop it!" Shinji yelled as he caught her hand. He gave a small and soft squeeze to make sure his message was clear. He heard Asuka gasp. 'What…did I just do?' Shinji asked himself. 'Have I lost my mind?' He was sure Asuka wouldn't take too kindly to him blocking her attack. And another thing Shinji noted…was the fact that it almost seem like he had a personality change. 'I'm still the same, but…' Throughout the whole day he had said and done things without thinking. 'Whets wrong with me?' like that joke he had made this morning to Misato. 'Or at the café…' He shook his head. 'No time to think about that right now…' He knew that Angel was more important.

"I guess you're right." Shinji huhed. As he heard Asuka speak. "This is actually more counterproductive than focusing our effort on the Angel." She said a bit too nonchalantly for Shinji's taste. 'Besides…I don't have the time to beat up a pervert like you…'

"Asuka!" Misato's voice broke over the Comm."Do you read me?" She asked. "I have an idea."

* * *

"Captain?" Misato as the ocean hardened man who suppressed a strained sigh.

"What?" He asked a bit tiredly.

"I need your cooperation." Was what she said.

"Point blank shooting by the remaining two battleships?" The Captain asked to make sure he had heard her correctly.

"Hai, we have the two battleships evacuate and then we sink them on the axial line of the Umbilical Cord to form a trap." She re explained her plan. "During this time Unit 2 will open the mouth of the target. The ships will then rush into the opening and fire with their bow turrets. Then after the firing the ships will self-destruct. That should destroy the Target." Misato explained. 'Especially since Eva Unit 2 will be nearby to neutralize the Angels AT-Field.'

"You're crazy!" The Captain yelled at Misato. "This whole plan is ludicrous!"

"Maybe so. But it's not impossible." Misato stated.

The Captain sighed. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to do anything else he agreed.

* * *

While the ships were being evacuated the two pilots were in the middle of fighting each other…okay more like Asuka was fighting. "Hey!" The redhead German who momentarily sat in his lap yelled. "Don't operate my Unit 2 without permission!" She exclaimed while she started hitting him again.

Shinji couldn't help but mentally sigh. 'What happened to "This fighting has been counter-productive" huh?' Shinji silently asked. He groaned to himself. With her moving around in his lap made it hard for him to concentrate. 'Please god! If you are listening please don't let it happen, please don't!' Shinji mentally begged and pleaded to whatever benevolent deity that was listening. He knew that if Asuka felt something poking her down there, that he would then face a few broken appendages…at a minimum.

"That'll teach you not to-." She trailed off as she felt it.

'Oh fuck me!' Shinji mentally cursed the damn plug suit and god who had royal screwed him over. For with this female version his erection was much more apparent than if he had been wearing his own.

"You-." Asuka said a bit breathlessly as her face had shifted to red from embarrassment and anger. "You filthy PERVERT!" She yelled as she started slapping him even harder.

"Hey stop that!" Shinji yelled as he tried to fend off her slaps. He was kind of surprised that she hadn't started using her closed fist. As in actually punching him; he guessed it was because this wasn't the time to kill him. 'I'm going to really get it later…' He groaned as he continued to try and fend her off. "Come on! I can't help it!" He yelled at the German.

"Of course you can't!" She accused. "Because you're a pervert!"She accused as she resumed her assault.

"Consider it a good thing!" A frustrated Shinji yelled at her. "It means you're attractive!" Shinji gulped at that. 'Where…where did that come from?' He mentally questioned. 'What's wrong with me?' He mentally groaned to himself and decided to investigate his impulsive actions at a later date.

Asuka gasped at that. She was surprised that he had said something so bold and was actually defending himself. 'Wait…why am I surprised? I don't know this guy. And that means he has no right to poke me with…that!' Just as she was about to begin her second strike Misato's voice broke through.

"You two understand the operation?" She asked. It seemed that she hadn't heard the earlier conversation. Shinji sighed in relief knowing that if she had, she would never stop teasing him.

"Hai!" The two responded now knowing that the time to fight each other was over.

* * *

Back on the ship. "Cable reverse!" Misato yelled as she turned to the first mate.

After a few seconds the PA buzzed to life. "Eva has begun resurfacing. 70 to contact."

* * *

Back with Shinji and Asuka. Shinji wrapped his arms around Asuka's mid section as he was behind her and had to do so he could reach the controls. "Keep your hands to yourself, Third Pervert!" Asuka yelled.

Shinji sighed at her comment. 'Been doing that a lot today.' He realized. "Asuka we don't have time for that. If we don't open that mouth we're going to die. Now help me, trust me, like how I need to trust you." Shinji said as he gripped the controls. After a few seconds he felt Asuka's smaller hands cover his. "We get this done, get to the port, end this day. Then next time we meet you can kick my ass."

Asuka smiled at that. "Fine Third." She gripped his hands in a soft but firm grasp. "I trust you."

The two concentrated as hard as they could. But to no avail the Angel's mouth remained shut. Shinji glared at the Angel. 'Why isn't it working?' He asked himself as fear started to cloud his heart. 'It did last time.' He reasoned.

'Shinji.' He heard a familiar voice speak out.

'What the?' Shinji glanced around him. But saw no one.

'Shinji Ikari.' The voice said.

'Kaworu?' Shinji said in his mind as he recognized the voice. 'What are you doing here?' He asked in surprised. He narrowed his eyes as he remembered their last meeting. 'What do you want?'

'I only wish to offer my assistance.' Kaworu's voiced his intentions. 'You seem unable to open the mouth of my brother. Why is that?'

'How should I know?' Shinji mentally yelled.

'Look around you and search you're heart. You'll find your answer.' Kaworu's voice disappeared.

Shinji looked down. He knew what he was talking about. '…Guilt.' It's because he feels guilt. He looked over at Asuka, who was concentrating as hard as she could. 'I'm unable to save her then, and I am unable to do so now.'

_

* * *

_

The world was ending. One by one people were turning into LCL as they saw the blue girl appear before them, before the blue haired girl would change into the person the individual , who was about to turn into LCL, wanted to see.

_A torn apart Asuka now laid in her torn apart Eva. She was gasping short hollow breaths. Blood was gushing out of her split-in half arm as well as her left eye. Dried blood was caked to her once beautiful red hair. She had been basically eaten alive and still she didn't cry. She wouldn't cry for something not worth it. 'Shinji…' She mentally mumbled. 'Why? Why did you leave me to die?' She sniffed as she resisted the urge to cry. 'I…was I that terrible to you?' Asuka scanned her memories. "I…gu-guess I w-was…"_

"_Pilot Soryu." A familiar voice she hated called out. _

_Asuka looked up to see Rei Ayanami. "Go aw-away." Asuka said in a breathless voice. "You…you won…Shi-Shinji aba-abandoned me…ar-are yo-you happ-happy no-now you do-dol-doll!" Asuka yelled as tears started to come out of her good eye. She watched through her one blurry eye as Rei's appearance changed. _

"_I would never abandon you, Asuka." Shinji's voice softly said. Asuka gasped as she saw Shinji Ikari floating in front of her. Shinji flew towards her and hugged her damaged body. "I love you." He said as he embraced her softly. _

"_Th-That's a li-lie if I ever heard on-one." Asuka angrily stammered as she relished in the warmth of his embrace knowing that this was what she had wanted after the 15__th__. 'Came a bit late, didn't you?' _

"_No, it's not." Shinji said as he backed away. With one hand he clutched her cheek and rubbed the tears under her good eye. "I love you." He repeated and then leaned in to capture her lips. _

_Asuka, despite the pain she felt from her injuries that should have done her in, moaned. This almost made her wish that she hadn't plugged his nose before. _

_Shinji backed away after a second. "Believe me now?" Shinji questioned with a soft and loving smile. "I love you." _

"_Shinji!" Asuka breathlessly yelled as she moved forward while ignoring the life threatening injuries and caught his lips. She felt him respond as he returned her kiss and gently wrapped his arms around her waist like she had wanted him to do that one night. Then she to turned into LCL._

* * *

'What do I do?' Shinji asked himself. Then he felt a surge go through his mind. 'What the hell?' He mentally yelled as he gripped his head with one hand.

The Third Child gasped as he remembered the other occupant of the Eva. 'Kyoko Soryu!' Shinji mentally yelled. 'Kyoko-san, please help me…no…' Shinji looked at Asuka. 'Help her, don't let this happen!' Shinji yelled as he thought of the after math of Asuka's final battle.

Shinji saw it. The mouth of the Angel was slowly opening. 'Thank you.' Shinji silently said to the mother of the teen right next to him.

* * *

As the ship arrived at the port in Shin-Yokosuka Shinji mused at how the rest of the battle played out as the first time. The Ships had filled up the Angels mouth, fired, and then self-destructed. And then the Eva landed on the deck of Over the Rainbow with seconds of power to spear before going out.

"Quite a show." Ritsuko commented to Misato after said woman had given the statics of the battle.

"Don't." Misato tiredly said. "I had to improvise the underwater battle." She admitted.

"Rare to hear that. Is that self-examination?" The faux blonde asked as Misato sighed.

"Be quiet, we collected a lot of valuable data from this." Misato said as Ritsuko flipped through the papers.

"Misato." Ritsuko suddenly said in a serious tone.

"Huh?" the violet haired woman said as she looked at her long time friend.

"This is something pretty valuable."

* * *

Asuka coming off the escalator that was attached to her Eva smirked. She felt this was probably the best way to enter Japan. She was greatly satisfied with the way she had left her mark on the Pacific Fleet, as well as the Third Child. Glancing behind her she saw that Shinji was being belittled for his choice of wear by his so called 'Friends.' Asuka sighed as she felt a bit of pity for him. 'Besides I'm the one who made him wore it.'

"Hey!" Asuka yelled at the two who turned to look at her. "You two stooges leave this idiot alone!" Asuka yelled as she knocked Kensuke's camera to the ground. Toji backed up as Kensuke started to mourn over the loss of his camera. Turning to see Shinji's confused look she also noted something clutched in his hand. She couldn't tell what it was, but by the string coming out of it she'd guess it to be a pendant or something. "Don't get any ideas. I only felt the need to do that, because it wasn't by choice that you're wearing that." Asuka said as she pointed at the plug suit. Asuka took a second to examen how the plug suit fitted on him. "By the way, did I ever tell you, that you have a great figure?" Asuka jokingly asked with a smirk as Shinji gave a tired smile and chuckle.

* * *

"They both broke records." Ritsuko said as she showed the papers to Misato. "Shinji, I don't even know how to explain it, but he broke his record upon coming in to battle. Upon entering an Eva that he's never piloted he started out with a synch-ratio of 87.9 percent." She said as Misato gasped at this news "I know, unbelievable, isn't it? But another thing that concerns me is that his Synch kept on fluctuating during the whole battle. I mean it kept jumping and shooting down, id guess the fluctuation to be from stress of the battle. But it shouldn't be on this big of a scale." Ritsuko explained. "Then for seven seconds it hit zero. Then jumped up to 75.5 percent and stayed there until the Eva ran out of power."

Misato was astounded at this rather bit of interesting news. "What about Asuka?" Misato questioned.

"I'm getting to that." The blonde doctor said a bit annoyed at Misato's impatience as she flipped through papers. "For the duration of the battle her synch was for the most part normal. It wasn't till the end that she broke her record." Ritsuko said in a serious tone as she showed Misato the papers. "You see for the seven seconds that Shinji was at zero Asuka's Synch-Score jumped up to 99.9% it just doesn't make sense." The blonde doctor said a bit irritated that she couldn't solve this puzzle.

* * *

The next day Shinji and his two friends were huddled at his desk while they talked. Today's topic was Asuka; the red headed demon as Toji so kindly called her. "Man what a total bitch. I mean she was cute, but her appearance just doesn't reflect her personality." Shinji sighed for he had heard this before.

"She wasn't that bad. At least to me. Unlike you guys she wasn't laughing at me because I was wearing that plug suit unlike my so-called friends." Shinji said as he mocked glared his two friends.

At that time the door to the class opened. And Toji who glanced in that direction let out a loud yell. Pointing to the figure Toji continued with his yell. The person he pointed to ignored him as she wrote her name in neat English on the broad.

After she was done the redhead turned to the class who all stared at her. "My name is Asuka Langley Soryu, charmed, huh?" She questioned in her fluent Japanese.

* * *

And there you go; I know that the end was a bit rushed. But eh, and I didn't really give you guys a great conclusion with the end of the battle. But I didn't feel like rewriting the battle from the actual Anime since it's very similar and the end result was the exact same.

So yea, see that button below this message the one marked "Review", I'm sure you know what to do with it.


	5. Easy days part 1

**To Cthulhu, I'm glad you enjoyed my last chapter, I apologize about the formatting, I'll admit that I was in a bit of a rush, but eh…I digress.** **Yea I'll admit that the scene was a bit awkward but I wanted to try something different, and well…here we are. And how do you think it could have happened differently, I'm not sure what you mean by that. I'll admit that the flash back scene you might find a little weird but I just kinda thought it up, and there is the small possibility that she could have survived, small but still it's there. So…yea…(I didn't even know what her synch was at that time, if anything I guessed it was 100, well looks like I was 200 percent off.) Cool. And I will.**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter five: Easy days part 1

With an ear bud in each ear Shinji made his way to school, he could feel the shine of the sun upon his face. He knew it would be hot today, at that thought Shinji found himself mentally groaning as he shoved his hands into his pockets to feel the small white item, Misato's cross. To the common passerby he looked like an average teenager. But if you looked closely you'd see the bags under his eyes, how his face looked a bit sunken. He just overall looked exhausted. Hell even his breathing was shallow as if he had been running.

'Nightmares.' That was the culprit of Shinji's fatigue. He had seen the same images over and over the previous night. The four most vivid scenes had been: The terrible deed he had done to Asuka, her fight and then being eaten alive, his last moments with Misato, and when Asuka had turned into LCL. And those were just only some of the scenes he had seen.

He also saw what his friends were doing during this time. He had seen Rei betray his father, the deaths of the Nerv Bridge Bunnies; Maya, Shigeru, and Makoto. He saw how his closest friends met their ends.

*Ring*

*Ring*

Shinji snapped out of his thoughts. 'A phone?' He looked around. There were no people in the area, nor were there any pay phones.

*Ring*

'Oh, duh!' Shinji nearly smacked himself. Reaching into his pocket he grabbed his rarely used Nerv issued cell phone. "Hello?" Shinji spoke into the phone after he had removed his ear buds.

"…"

"Hello?" Shinji repeated a bit tiredly. "Listen," He started out. "If this is a prank call I'm-."

"Shinji." The voice answered. Shinji's eyes widened as he recognized it. "Meet me on the rooftop of your school, after classes are over, that is." The voice added. "See ya then."

Shinji heard the dial tone after that, and the call was over. Looking at his phone Shinji sighed. 'What does Kaworu want with me now?' Shinji wondered. He was a bit spiteful of the 17th Angel. He knew that Kaworu hadn't meant to hurt him with the truth, though Shinji knew it was needed. 'For that I have to thank him.' Shinji knew that if he were to succeed in his 'mission' to fix his mistakes he would have to get past his fear. He needed to grow up, he would have to…being afraid to pull the trigger. That thought made the already exhausted Shinji feel ill.

He clenched the necklace in his hand. Misato's cross; looking at the small item Shinji noted the dried blood that hadn't been washed away by the water when he had gone for a swim in the Pacific Ocean. 'Almost like a constant reminder.' Shinji decided as he placed the necklace around his neck and made sure to hide it under his shirt. 'This…this is my incentive, my painful reminder. To make sure that, that future never happens.'

* * *

Shinji now sat in class; he could hear Sensei talking, but his words Shinji found himself unable to register. He barely heard the teacher mention something about a worksheet that was now being passed around the room..

"This assignment is to compare and contrast Pre-Second Impact, and Post-Second Impact." The teacher explained as he wrote something on the board. "Now if you have paid attention this should be a breeze for you all."At that every student groaned…well minus Shinji and Hikari.

'Blissful sleep.' Shinji thought to himself after he had blazed through the worksheet. He had already done it once, and with the memories he had gained from those who had lived before Second Impact it only made the assignment all the more easier. Now Shinji laid his head on the desk, one of Toji Suzuhara's favorite activities when it comes to school.

Shinji opened one of his blue eyes to look at the redhead who sat next to him. 'Kinda odd that she actually requested to sit next to me.' He thought to himself.

Her excuse for doing so: _"I request to sit next to Ikari. It's best for us Eva pilots to be near one another as much as possible." _Or something along those lines.

And in doing so Sensei had also moved Ayanami's seat to behind Asuka. 'Oh boy this will be bad when they meet.' Shinji thought to himself as he watched her struggle on her assignment. Shinji considered a way to make them get along or more like make Asuka play nice. 'Easier said than done.' The brown haired boy thought with a scowl. 'Why don't I just jump in the lion's pen at the zoo?' Shinji thought sarcastically. 'My chances of survival would be higher.'

* * *

'Damn it, am I even doing this thing right?' The redheaded German asked herself as she scribbled her messy Kanji. She gave an irritated sigh. 'Why am I even here?' She asked herself as she placed her mechanical pencil on the table. Leaning her head in her palm she dwelled in her thoughts that had gotten her stuck in this boring classroom.

_Asuka wasn't all that impressed with the Geo-front, as she had seen one all her life. Asuka had to admit that this Geo-front was larger than the one in Germany. Looking at her new ID she smirked at the pic she had taken. 'Perfect as always.' She thought with a small smirk. 'Who could resist that face?' _

_She stopped in her tracks, and sighed. '…Kaji could.' That made her heart wrench in pain as she remembered the night before fighting the sixth Angel. Kaji had allowed her to drink the wine he had brought, but she had a little too much and had thrown herself at him, asking him to make love to her. _

'…' _She sighed. 'I guess in a way it is a good thing that he rejected me.' She knows that her feelings for Kaji are not as strong as she proclaims. But that didn't make the rejection any less painful, she wanted to be held, she wanted to be wanted. '…I want to be loved.' She thought sadly. Groaning she shook her head in frustration. 'Why the hell would I want to be loved?' She yelled in her mind as she resumed her steps. 'I've gone my whole life without being wanted or loved. I made it for ten years I'm strong enough to keep on moving.' She confidently said as she blocked all negative thoughts and made her way to the room she would be staying until she could move in with Kaji. _

_She was setting up a few personal items in her temporary room, she made sure to set up her laptop she had gotten for her thirteenth birthday. As she tried to hook up to the internet she found that it was blocked. Before she could sigh in frustration she heard the door open. Turning to yell at the intruder she gasped as she saw Kaji lazily leaning against the door. _

"_Kaji!" She yelled as she dashed to him and attacked the unshaven man in an embrace which he halfheartedly returned. _

"_Hey, there Asuka." He said in his usual relaxed demeanor. _

_Then Asuka slightly slapped his arm. Noting his confused expression she explained. "That's for running away and missing my grand moment where I-." She stuttered as she remembered that she wasn't the only one fighting. '…' She sighed to herself, knowing that it wouldn't be right to take ALL of the credit. "We," Kaji gave her an eyebrow raise at her mishap but didn't comment. "Destroyed the Angel."_

"_I'm sorry, Asuka." The forever unshaven man said. "I had something the Commander of Nerv needed, and he wanted it ASAP." Kaji explained. "But tell you what; to make it up I'll take you shopping when I get the chance." At the promise of going shopping with Kaji Asuka smiled widely. It usually took a lot of convincing to get him to go shopping with her. _

'_I'll forgive him.' Asuka decided for she was now envisioning their 'date.' Even though she herself knew that it wasn't really so, the redheaded German couldn't help but pretend. And hope that someday he would see her as a woman, and not as a little girl. _

"_By the way," Kaji interrupted Asuka's day dream. "They've rejected my request for you to live with me." He said lying through his teeth. He felt a bit of pain in his heart as he saw Asuka's smile go upside down. He knew that this was for the best, he hadn't really asked for her to be able to live with him. But Kaji knew that he needed to get her off her crush before it developed into something more like love or something even worse, an obsession. 'And also...' Kaji did have a bit of a selfish reason for not wanting her around his apartment. 'It could screw my chances with 'Sato.' He did feel bad for lying to the girl especially when he had something to gain from it in such a way. 'It's for her own good,' He decided. _

'_What?' Asuka's mind was going into over drive. 'Mein Gott! How stupid are these people at Nerv? Where else will I live? How can they do this to me?' She continued to yell in her mind. 'How can they do this to one of the protectors of this world?'_

"_I'm sorry Asuka." Kaji said in an honest voice breaking her out of her inner thoughts. "But we can still talk and see each other at Nerv. I'm going to try and get you a suitable place to live in, 'K" He informed her with a smile that gave her hope._

"_Maybe you can try asking again, Kaji. It's all about persistence." Asuka said her vibrant blue eyes shining. "If you keep pushing it on them, eventually we can live together." _

"_We'll see, but don't get your hopes up, okay Asuka?" He asked of the teen who nodded. "By the way, I need you to sign these forms." Kaji said as he handed her a thick envelope. _

"_What's this?" Asuka asked as she pulled out a bunch of forms. _

"_The admission forms for Tokyo-3 Middle School." Kaji explained. _

"_Middle school?" Asuka yelled in surprise. "Why do I need to go to school!" The redhead demanded with fire in her blue eyes. "I've already graduated college at the age of thirteen!" She explained. "There's no reason for me to go to a Japanese middle school." She said crossing her arms. _

"_Asuka." Kaji said a bit firmly. "I think it would be best," The unshaven man explained. "You need to socialize with people in your own age group." He explained in a calm voice. Before she could start up with a temper tantrum he continued. "And besides the Third and First Children go there. It would be best if the three of you become closer friends." Kaji said as he saw her bite her lip, a bit of a habit she did when she was complementing on something. "And from what I saw, you and the Third Child seemed hit it off fairly well." He commented casually. _

"_**Come on! I can't help it!" He yelled at the German. **_

"_**Of course you can't!" She accused. "Because you're a pervert!"She accused as she resumed her assault. **_

"_**Consider it a good thing!" A frustrated Shinji yelled at her. "It means you're attractive!" **_

_**Asuka gasped at that.**_

_Asuka momentarily felt her face heat up as she remembered the incident, but she pushed down the feeling. "He's alright." She reluctantly said with a 'Humph.' She watched him give her a look that told her he knew that she wasn't being 100% truthful. _

_Asuka could admit to herself that she was a bit intrigued by the Third Child, she didn't like him, but she didn't hate him. She wanted to see what kind of person he is. 'And why he feels the need to lie and hide.' With an irritated sigh she grabbed the pen and signed the forms. _

* * *

*RING* The noise of the bell signaling lunch awoke Shinji who had fallen asleep while Asuka was in her daydream. The group of students all rushed out of the classroom, egger to eat before being subjugated to their teacher's long lecture about Second Impact.

The Idiot Trio as Asuka would soon start calling them all sat on the roof during lunch. Kensuke and Toji were discussing the pros and cons of selling pictures of 'The Red Headed Demon" as they now called Asuka.

While the two were having their conversation Shinji now arms behind his head laid on his back with his eyes closed and with one ear bud from his SDAT in his left ear.

"Come on man, it's not that hard, I've already got a few pictures of her. She didn't even notice me." Kensuke said as he angled his camera at the redhead from below who was conversation with a few students.

"I don't know man." Toji replied a bit hesitant. "I mean wouldn't this just support her claims of us being perverts?" The usually dumb jock commented. "I mean you're saying that you plan on getting pictures of her in the changing rooms during gym class." At that Shinji opened his eyes and sighed at his two friends.

"Come on!" Kensuke complained. "Don't you have any balls?" He yelled. Sighing he turned to his other friend who he hoped would back him up. "What do you think, Shinji?" Kensuke asked the Third Child. "We could easily make some quick cash off of her with a few pics. People would actually pay for it, we'd be rich." Kensuke said dreamily.

Shinji sighed as he turned off his SDAT player. "I think you're crazy." Shinji said as he turned to his friend. "No, not crazy, more like suicidal. When Asuka finds out about this she'll murder you" The pilot of Eva Unit 1 casually said. Turning to Toji Shinji gave him some advice. ", and if you get involved than you really are an idiot."

"Come on, Shinji. You know that we could do this. It isn't that hard, I'll even let you take the pictures in the locker rooms." Kensuke offered.

"No thanks." Shinji said as he laid back down. "I'd rather deal with all the Angels I've fought, then deal with that girl when she's pissed off." Shinji said as he closed his eyes signaling that he had made his decision. 'That's right…every last one of them, all 17.' Shinji said in his mind as he thought about when Asuka had found out that they had been selling the pictures last time. Shinji mentally shuddered. 'I didn't know that an arm could bend so far that way.'

"I swear I think that the only way to become an Eva pilot is to be crazy." Toji commented. At that Shinji looked back at his friend curious as to what he had to offer. Toji noticing Shinji's stare sweat dropped. "I mean first there Ayanami; quiet and anti-social." Toji said in a somewhat nervous voice. "Even more anti-social than you, and that's saying something." Toji mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Shinji asked in a voice that dared Toji to repeat his sentence.

"Nothing!" The dumb jock said a bit too quickly. "And then there's you…" Toji stopped at the mock-glare he received from Shinji. Toji coughed nervously, he seemed to be getting himself screwed today. 'No help from Kensuke.' He thought to himself as he saw that Kensuke was totally silent. "Then finally," He continued on. "There's the temperamental bitch." Toji bitterly said. "Asuka, the girl who slaps innocent boys for no reason!" Toji exclaimed trying to get his friends on his side.

"Toji."

"Yes, Shinji?"

"Shut up." Shinji simply said then went back to his 'peaceful' nap.

"I swear Kensuke, all Eva pilots are weird." Toji said to his long time friend.

"Kensuke is weird and he's not an Eva pilot." Shinji commented lazily.

"Yea, I'm-. Hey!" At that Toji busted out laughing.

* * *

Meanwhile:

"So what's Germany like?"

"How do you like Japan so far?"

"What's your phone number!"

"Are you single!"

The questions were coming nonstop, and Asuka was actually starting to get a little annoyed with all of the attention. 'Hey, even I enjoy some quietness once and an awhile.' She sighed mentally. 'But this is getting ridiculous!' She thought to herself as she plastered a fake smile.

"Germany is great, a lot better than this country." Asuka said muttering the last part to herself. "Its fine, but I can't understand how you all write in Kanji like this!" She said in a fake bubbly voice. "Not telling and no." She said wishing they would go away so she could enjoy the rest of her lunch in peace.

"Asuka-chan! Will you go out wi-?" A student Asuka barely recognized from class was interrupted by the Class Rep, Hikari Horaki, who had grabbed the unsuspecting boy's ear.

"Now, now, Junpei-san." She said as she gave a small pull. "Why don't you all leave Asuka alone, lunch is almost over. And she hasn't even gotten the chance to eat yet, if you keep pestering her with questions then she'll starve to death." Hikari sweetly said.

'I don't know who this girl is, but I like her.' Asuka decided as she watched the group of students leave. Turning to the pig tailed girl Asuka gave a grateful smile. "Thank you, I was just about to do that." She said. 'But with more violence.'

"Eh, I could tell you were starting to get annoyed, so I felt like helping. Anyway, lunch is almost over." Hikari warned. "You might want to eat quickly." Hikari said as she was about to walk away only to be stopped by Asuka's voice.

"Wait." Hikari turned to give Asuka a questioning look. "Where's your lunch?" The redhead asked curiously for she hadn't seen the girl leave the room with a bento. Asuka also assumed that she hadn't been to the café either.

"Oh, I uh forgot mine today." The brunette blushed slightly and admitted a bit sheepishly.

"Want some of mine?" The redhead asked. She was also quick to justify her reason. "I owe you, and besides I'm not even sure if I can eat all of this in time." Hikari gave a smile as she sat next to Asuka. The two eat their lunch and casually conversant until the bell rang.

"We should eat together again tomorrow." Hikari suggested. To which Asuka gave a nod.

* * *

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Ring*

The bell rang, signaling that School was over, students filed out of school. Most of them heading to the arcade, or to the mall, teens laughed and joked with their friends. Shinji watched from the roof as the students vacated the grounds. He sighed, wishing that he could be like them. 'Innocent, carefree, normal.' To Shinji Evangelion was a curse. This was a known fact to most of his friends.

'Shinji.'

Said boy gasped at the familiar voice. Looking around the roof Shinji didn't see his sliver haired friend. "Kaworu, show yourself." Shinji calmly said.

Kaworu appeared out of thin air a second later. Walking towards the young Ikari Kaworu gave a smile. "Howdy." He greeted as though they hadn't fought the last time they saw each other.

"What are you doing here?" Shinji questioned cautiously.

"I'm here to offer you assistance." The 17th Angel replied.

"How?" Shinji asked curious. "How can you help me?" Shinji looked down. "…No…" He looked Kaworu straight in the eye. "Why are you helping me?" Shinji asked. "Why help me?" Shinji asked again. "Since I killed you." He accused himself.

"I asked you to." Kaworu countered.

"But it doesn't make it right!" Shinji yelled. "You knew!" He accused Kaworu. "You knew what would happen. You could have prevented Third Impact. Asuka wouldn't have been abandoned like that, Misato wouldn't have died!"

"You are the one who made the decisions!" Kaworu countered. "I trusted that I had left the world in capable hands! I am no protector. I am an Angel; I couldn't resist Adams call forever. Eventually I would have caused Third Impact wither or not I wanted to!"

Shinji looked down as he clenched his fist. He couldn't believe this he and Kaworu were…fighting. "Maybe you're right." Shinji said. "But I'm also right." Locking his blue orbs onto Kaworu's red ones he spoke. "We're both guilty of sins."

"…" Kaworu after a second smiled. "Hahaha!" Kaworu started laughing as well. Shinji was confused, one second ago he looked ready to lash out…and now he was laughing. "You're finally starting to get it." Kaworu whispered. "It is your fault. But you are not solely to blame, if you took all blame where would we be?" The sliver haired Angel asked. "You and I would still be on that beach, at the end of the world. Still arguing like a pair of old women. That's why…" Kaworu smiled. "You need to stop completely blaming yourself."

Shinji stared at his friend. 'Blame myself, but…don't take full responsibility.' To Shinji this was almost like something he had never heard of. As a child and throughout his whole life he had taken full responsibility upon himself for it was the easiest way to avoid conflict. He had never thought of sharing the burden. "But…"

Kaworu was all ears to his words.

"What if it creates more conflict?" The teen asked. "What if it makes things worse? And I could have just put a close on it by taking the full burden?" He asked the Angel.

"…Then share the responsibility." Kaworu said as if it was the most oblivious thing ever. "If you are truly not at complete fault then don't take the full burden." Kaworu firmly said. "Sure it could create more problems along the road, but at the end there's always a light, and if you share the responsibility the light is even brighter."

Shinji smiled as he looked down, he felt a bit lighter. He wasn't sure if he would be able to always share the responsibility but he would learn to try. 'I want…I want to be able to like myself.' Shinji felt a tear leave his eye. 'I can't win, or live my life if I allow myself to be a complete door mat.' Shinji walked towards his friend. "Thank you, Kaworu-kun." He said as he hugged the Angel.

Kaworu was silent as he felt the human hug him. He could tell that the Third Child felt extremely better than he had this morning. The sliver haired Angel knew about the memories that haunted Shinji when the boy closed his eyes. He knew that Shinji would probably have nightmares for the rest of his life. 'But this is the first step to recovery.' Kaworu thought as he hugged his friend back. After a second he backed away and gave Shinji a playful smile. "Though you might want to start calling me Kaworu-sensei."

"Kaworu-sensei?" Shinji sighed to himself. "What do you mean sensei?" He asked curiously. "You're no teacher."

"I am now, someone needs to teach you how to use your power." Kaworu stated firmly. "And I don't think that any of the other Angels will teach you."

"Power?" Shinji asked a bit taken back. "What power?"

"The power to extract your AT-Field. Any human born after Second Impact can do it, if they've been exposed to an Angels AT-Field." The 17th Angel explained.

"Whoa, wait a minute, then shouldn't Rei, Asuka, and Misato be able to use it?" Shinji asked doubtful of Kaworu's claims.

"Well…Rei could already use her own, though she chooses not to. For Asuka it's impossible, you have to be close up to an Angel, the Eva's AT-Field protects her. For Misato it's not possible, remember she wasn't born after Second Impact." Kaworu said lifting some of Shinji's doubts.

"And me? How did I gain this "Ability"" Shinji asked still finding this a bit unbelievable.

"Because of me," Kaworu bluntly said. "You were around me outside of your Eva quite a bit. And also at that beach you were exposed to my AT-Field when I sent you back here." The sliver haired man said. "So as you can see, the chance of you developing the ability to extract you're AT-Field is quite high." The sliver haired Angel informed his friend. 'It was a risky move on my part.' He thought to himself. 'But, it seems that Shinji is still relatively stable. Other than a small side effect, that being his small shift of personality he seems completely fine.'

"So there's a chance I might not be able to use my AT-Field?" The brown haired boy inquired.

Kaworu gave a sigh. "Yes there is, but very little." He said a bit more bluntly than he intended. "Considering how much I've exposed you to id say there is a 0.0005% chance of you not gaining this power." At Shinji's down fallen face Kaworu sighed sadly for his friend. "I am sorry Shinji. I know that you wish to be normal, but this is necessary, if you do have these powers you need to learn them. You can't fear-."

"Is there a way for me to be rid of them…after this is all over?" Shinji asked a small bit of hope laced in his voice.

"I'm sorry my friend. But if I knew of a way I would have done it to myself. Instead of having you kill me." Kaworu said in a truly apologetic tone as he watched Shinji's hopeful face turn into a frown.

"…" Shinji sighed to himself. 'It's just another reminder that I can't live a normal life, even after it's everything's said and done.' Shinji dropped his frown. "Alright, let's get started, Kaworu-sensei."

Kaworu gave a small sympathy filled smile. "You don't have to call me sensei, I was joking."

* * *

Shinji now stood on the center of the roof, his eyes were closed and his shoulders were relaxed.

"Breath in, breath out." Kaworu's soft voice instructed. "It is the key to using your AT-Field to its limit. If you can master proper breathing you will be a step closer to using your AT-Field to your full potential." Shinji took in a deep inhale, then exhaled. Repeated. "…" Kaworu watched as the boy took his words to heart. "Not bad. But your breaths are a little shaky, calm down a bit. Try and calm your beating heart." The sliver haired Angel said as he circled the boy. "You have to remain calm. This is the first step, it is also one of the most crucial."

Shinji opened one eye. "Kaworu, how will breathing help me?" Shinji curiously asked.

Kaworu gave a small smile. "It's to relax you, I need you to be in control when summoning your AT-Field. If not you could mess up, and that could get you killed." Kaworu firmly explained hoping that the teen would take his words to heart. "Soon you'll be able to summon your AT-Field like breathing. You won't even have to think about it." The sliver haired boy said as he stopped walking. Shinji closed his one eye and resumed breathing. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. "Better, it's getting there." Kaworu decided. 'But he won't be able to extract his AT-Field if he doesn't improve.'

"Stop," Kaworu firmly said. "That's enough for today." He could see that it was starting to get late and he knew that Shinji needed to get home before his guardian called Section 2. 'And I don't think they'd be happy to see me.' He thought with a smirk. 'Though only Shinji can see me.'

"What?" Shinji asked a bit tiredly.

"That's enough for today." Kaworu repeated. "You should get home before Misato goes crazy."

"I'm not going to extract my AT-Field today?" Shinji asked a bit downfallen, even though he wasn't excited about this new power he did want to test it and see what he could do with it. While he had been 'breathing' for the last hour or so he had thought about some of the pros of it. And now he knew that this could easily help him in his 'mission' to prevent the future.

"You're not ready yet, Shinji." Kaworu explained. "But work on your breathing and I promise you that before the week is over you'll be able to summon you're AT-Field." The sliver haired Angel promised. "Then the true training begins." Kaworu promised with a smirk. Shinji smiled and left the roof.

* * *

Walking through the halls Shinji hummed to the song of his SDAT. "This is a pain in the ASS!" He heard a voice shout.

'Damn, if I could hear that through my SDAT that person must have a good set of pipes.' Shinji sarcastically said as he pulled his ear buds out and went to investigate.

"Why should I be stuck with clean up duty on my second day?" The voice got louder as Shinji neared his classroom.

'Wait I know that voice.' Stopping at the door Shinji saw an irritated redhead leaning on a broom. He could easily see that she wasn't happy. 'Stuck with cleaning duty on the second day?' Shinji mused to himself.

"This is fricken retarded!" The redhead screeched. "Why should I be stuck with this, I've only been here for two days." She grumbled. She stiffened as she heard the door open. Slowly turning her head she sighed in relief that it wasn't a teacher or the principal. "What do you want, third?" She asked a bit snidely.

"Nothing." Shinji casually said. "It's just I heard some yelling. Came to investigate, and here we are." Shinji explained.

"Well Sherlock Holmes now you solved your greatest case, so get out." The redheaded girl ordered as she turned resumed sweeping. After a few seconds she stopped and sighed, believing that he had left she prepared to go on another tantrum.

Then she heard humming. Turning on her heel she saw that Shinji had grabbed a broom and started sweeping a side of the room she had yet to get to. "What are you doing, Third?" She demanded.

"Humming." He casually replied as he resumed humming and sweeping.

"Not that smart ass. I mean why are you sweeping, this is my job, so get out." She said in a low voice.

Sighing he ceased sweeping and looked her in the eye. "Asuka, if you do the rest by yourself you'll be here past dark." Shinji said as he gestured to the already setting sun. "Do you really want to be stuck here that long?"

"…" Asuka sighed and started sweeping. "Shut up and get to work, Ikari." Shinji smiled and he to resumed sweeping.

Shinji watched Asuka lock up the classroom, all the while he was still humming. "I didn't need your help." Asuka said. "But thanks, it didn't take that long, I could have done it myself."

'Are you thankful, or mad? I can't tell.' Shinji thought with a mental shrug. "Oh, I'm sure you could have finished in time, but I was adding in to the fact of how long it would take for you to finish your temper tantrum." Shinji said with a small playful smirk.

Asuka finished locking up the room and give Shinji the best glare she could muster. "Haha," The redhead's glare didn't last long. She hated to admit it, but he was probably right. "Shinji one of these days that smart mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble." She warned with a playful smirk as she started to walk down the hall.

"Yes it will probably piss you off, then my body will be found in a ditch somewhere outside of Tokyo-3." Shinji said as he started walking alongside her.

"Nope, you'll be late to an Angel attack, and I'll 'accidently' stomp on you with Unit 2." Shinji mentally grimaced at that. Noticing his look Asuka laughed. "I'm messing with you. I wouldn't kill you, but you should consider yourself lucky that you have access to Nerv's hospital facilities." She said with a mock sadistic look.

"Been there too many times." Shinji mumbled.

"Huh?"

"Nothing.." Shinji said as they reached the entrance. "Well, I need to go. Misato's probably hungry by now, and I don't want to starve Pen-Pen either. Ja ne!" Shinji yelled back as he headed home.

Asuka stood there watching him leave. She sighed to herself as she turned the other way and headed for the Geo-front to be greeted by no one. To have no one waiting for her. As she walked home she never asked herself the question of what Shinji had been doing at the school so late.

**

* * *

**

And there it is, a little earlier than I had planned. Anyway I have a question for you guys, it's not that important, but I kinda need to know for this story. Does anyone know what Asuka's initial synch ratio was when she came to Tokyo-3?


	6. Easy Days part 2

**Well here it is, the fifth chapter, I hope you all enjoy this. **

**To Cthulhu, I can see what you're saying. And I guess it does make sense, I overlooked it, but I guess I can just claim that she was surprised that he would be so bold or open that he found her appealing. Or something like that, maybe you are, I'm not sure, remember I'm only a sixteen year old, not an award winning writer, but hey if someone like Stephenie Meyer can become famous for writing a crappy story I'm already on my way XD (Oh god, I'm probably going to receive so much hate mail for that comment,)**

**Glad you thought so, what I wanted was a little bit of tension between the two. Because in almost every Eva story I read Kaworu and Shinji are always friends and I thought it would be a little interesting if I put a bit of tension between them. And I'm kinda surprised at the outcome, (I'm actually doing an alright job XD)**

**I've seen it like two or three times, but I think it was about there, I had guessed it was around there. Thanks for answering.**

**The epilogue from the movie it did happen in a way. But I changed it, if Shinji had waited a bit then the epilogue for the movie would have happened. Instead Kaworu appears with this offer to fix everything, ect, ect, and here we are. Basically every up until just before the 'scene' on the beach happened.**

**Wow that was a long reply, anyway let's get on with the show.**

* * *

Evangelion: Re-Loaded

Chapter Six: Easy Days part 2

"Yeeeeeah!" Shinji sighed as he heard Misato give off her 'war' cry.

'And that is the reason why I never invested in an alarm clock.' Shinji tiredly thought as he got up, made his bed, and got dressed. He made his way to the kitchen to see a skimpily dressed Misato drinking her favorite drink. Shinji smiled as he pulled out the necessary ingredients for breakfast.

"Morning Shinji!" Misato happily greeted after letting out a burp.

"Morning." Shinji replied somewhat tiredly. Though Shinji did feel a bit better he still had a night full of nightmares, but the tired feeling wasn't as great as yesterday. "How'd you sleep, Misato?" Shinji asked his guardian as he started the rice cooker.

"Fine. Fine." Misato said casually. "You? Didn't have any dreams about a certain Eva pilot did you, Mr. Casanova?" She asked with a somewhat teasing smile.

Shinji sighed as he remembered his guardian's consistent teasing upon hearing of how Shinji helped Asuka with clean up, even though he didn't have to. 'Of course I did, but not in the sense you're thinking.' Shinji sighed at his perverted guardian. "I slept well, and no I did not have any dreams like that." Shinji said as he mocked glared at her.

"Jeeze such a kill joy." Misato quietly mumbles as she takes a sip from her beer.

"Not the first time I've been called that." Shinji quietly said as he finished making breakfast.

As the two ate their small breakfast it was surprisingly quiet. 'Better enjoy it while I can.' Shinji thought to himself with a small smirk. 'In less than five days Asuka should be moving in, then the thing called a quiet breakfast will be a rarity.'

After eating Shinji took the dishes to the sink. "I'll get those." Misato said as she grabbed the plates and placed them in the sink and started washing. "You should hurry and make your lunch or else you'll be late." Misato warned.

"Don't forget you have a synch-test after school today!" Misato warned Shinji who was just leaving the door.

"Got it!" Shinji shouted back to her as he closed the door to his apartment. Shinji walked towards the elevator and pressed the call button. The elevator door opened and he walked in, The Third Child made sure to press the ground floor.

* * *

As the elevator was heading to the ground Shinji groaned as he noticed that he had forgotten his SDAT. 'Oh well.' He thought a bit downfallen. 'I listen to it too much anyway, one day without it won't kill me.' He decided as the door opened. Shinji gasped as he saw Toji and Kensuke, the latter of which had his finger in position to push the call button.

"Hey Shin-man!" Toji said in surprise.

"Hey Toji, Kensuke." Shinji casually greeted as he stepped out of the elevator. "What's up?" He questioned his friends as they walked away from the building to school.

"Nothing, we were just coming to pick you up." Kensuke informed him.

"I see,"

"Anyway, during lunch we got something to show you." Kensuke said a bit excitingly.

"Let's hurry!" Toji urged.

"Yeah, Toji's right, if we don't rush we'll be late." The Third Child said as he checked his watch. "We got about 13 minutes." Shinji announced as he and his two friends began running.

* * *

Shinji sighed as he now sat in his seat waiting for the lunch bell to ring. 'This is so boring.' He thought to himself. 'I wish I could just say: Uh Sensei I've already studied the material, since I'm from the future and all, can I be excused. But no, I can't. That would blow my cover.' Shinji thought sadly.

"Alright class today we'll be having a pop quiz about how life was like before Second Impact and after Second Impact. So if you scored well on yesterdays assignment you should do just fine." At those words about 97% of the class groaned.

Shinji was done in nearly five minutes while the rest of the class struggled save for the Class Rep who was done fairly quickly.

'Damn it all!' Asuka yelled in her mind as she tried to deceiver the first question. 'I can barely get past the first word.' She thought in annoyance. 'Screw it!' She thought to herself as she just guessed C on all of them. 'Thank god it was multiple choice. Maybe I'll get a fair score.' She thought as she pushed her paper to the side and laid her head down to wait for the end of the test.

* * *

Before anyone knew it lunch had came, and Shinji found himself on the roof with his two friends while Asuka found herself eating lunch with her new friend Hikari. "So man, check out what we got!" Toji said as he handed Shinji a small stack of square pieces of paper.

'Oh no.' Shinji thought to himself as he went through them. They were of Asuka, one of her drinking from a fountain, one of her and the class rep eating lunch. 'Hell they even got one of her in the changing rooms.' Shinji knew that Asuka was going to get them sent to the hospital with these.

"See." Kensuke happily said. "We got them, and she doesn't even know. I hooked up the cameras yesterday morning and programmed it up so that the pictures would be sent to my computer at home." Kensuke said a bit gleefully. Shinji could tell that from the small smirk on Toji's face that he was on board with Kensuke's scheme.

"Yeah, Shin-man, check out all the cash we made selling a few early this morning. We sold like ten on our way to pick you up. And already we're raking in dough." Toji happily said as he showed the Third Child the profits.

"Seriously, Toji what did I say yesterday?" Shinji asked his friend hoping to persuade him to stop this madness.

"Uh…Was it something about food?" Toji asked with an innocent smile. When the jock saw his friend sigh he gave a laugh. "I'm messing with you, Shinji. I know you said not to get involved. And I didn't plan on letting Kensuke talk me into this." The tanned boy honestly said as he glanced at his glasses wearing friend. "But once I saw that Kensuke was able to take the photos without getting caught, and that he was able to sell them for a good price, I thought what the hell?" Toji said as he placed his share of the profits in his pocket.

"Ya know, it's not too late to take up my offer, I'll give you your fair share." Kensuke offered with a smile.

"Like I said yesterday; pass." Shinji said as he lies down on his back; sighing Shinji allowed himself to drift as he watched the white fluffy clouds pass by.

* * *

"It's so stupid, Hikari!" The redhead complained a bit tiredly. "I shouldn't even be in this school and now that teacher who goes on and on about Second Impact wants to get me a tutor? Why, you ask?" The infuriated Eva Pilot asked without even letting her speak. "Because Ms. Soryu you're Kanji needs work." The pissed off redhead says while giving a terrible impression of the teacher. "This is insane!" Asuka groans as she chews her food.

"Soryu-."

"Come on, Hikari!" The red head said a bit frustrated. "I told you, call me Asuka, you don't have to be so respectful." She said with a very tiny amount of venom in her voice.

"Asuka, I know that you don't like this, but you barely even understand Kanji." Hikari gently stated. "A tutor might be what you need." The pig tailed girl countered while still trying to be kind and polite.

"I've never needed help, and like I said I shouldn't even be here, I've already gone through college back in German." Asuka proudly stated.

The brunette sighed at her new friend. 'She is quite difficult.' Hikari decided. But she was finding that she like Asuka, even if she and Asuka were so different. It was nice to have a friend who didn't give a damn if you were the class rep or not, someone who actually wanted to be your friend for you not because they wanted you to bail them out when they got in trouble. "Asuka, think about it." Hikari said pleaded in a somewhat firm tone. "How long do you think you'll be in Japan?" Hikari paused to make sure Asuka could take in the full weight of her words.

'Valid point, who knows how many Angels there are? And who even knows if the Angels will come in rapid succession?' The redhead nodded to herself. In a way it would make sense for her to learn how to write the language she was so fluent in speaking. But even though she could admit to herself that her new friend had a very valid point Asuka didn't want to say it. She groaned. "I swear though, it's so unbelievable that you all write with those symbols. To me it's ludicrous." Asuka said not to fond of the Kanji system.

"To you it may seem weird but to me and everyone born in Japan it's almost like breathing. If you took the time to actually want to learn, I'm sure you would get it down." Hikari assured with a smile. "I don't believe that you're stupid, far from it if you're able to go through college before even turning fourteen." Hikari said in a tone filled with a small amount of admiration for the pilot of Eva Unit 2's accomplishment.

"I guess." Asuka sighed defeated knowing that no matter what she wanted she'd have no choice. "I just hope my tutor isn't a pervert." She said a bit bitterly as she continued eating.

* * *

Lunch was over before anyone knew it. Asuka sighed as she kept looking at the clock. Today was going soooo slow. She was now tapping her foot in an irregular manner. No matter how much she urged for the clock to go it would not just speed up. If anything she actually thought that it was going backwards.

'Stupid ancient clock.' An irritated Asuka mumbled in her thoughts as she tapped her nails on the desk. The teacher was giving his infamous speech on Second Impact.

"And so after the meteorite crashed into the earth…"

'I swear!' She shouted in her mind. 'If I hear that god damn cover story one more time I am going to scream!' The redheaded Eva Pilot thought to herself as she regretted ever coming to this damn school. Finally as if answering her call the bell rang. 'Thank you.' She thought to herself as she stood up and quickly grabbed her stuff before dashing out of the classroom at an amazing speed.

Shinji unlike Asuka slowly packed his belongings. He saw his friends coming up to him as he placed one of his note books into his bag.

"Hey, Shinji we're heading to the arcade." Toji informed the Third Child. "You coming? Or are you going to bail on us like yesterday?"

"Sorry, I can't today." Shinji said as he finished packing. "I got a synch test today." Shinji claims as Toji's face turn into a pity filled frown and Kensuke's into one of excitement.

"Aw man, you're stuck with the red devil, and Ayanami. Dude I feel your pain, both beautiful, but…" Shinji sighed at his friend's bluntness.

"Toji, they're fine. I can deal with Asuka, if anything she's been fair to me. She hasn't given me a reason to hate her." Shinji defended as he looked away. 'If anything she has a more valid reason to hate me…no,' Shinji clenched his fist. 'I'm not the only one to blame. If she had tried to be nicer and if I had tried harder instead of being afraid we could have at least had a healthier friendship.' Shinji thought to himself remembering Kaworu's words telling him that he isn't always at fault. 'I can't handle all of the world's burdens.'

The Third Child turned back to his two friends. "And Rei's just quiet. I'm sure if people took the time to get to know her she would be a bit more out spoken." Shinji assured his two friends.

"I don't know Shinji." Kensuke said as he examined his pictures he had gained today. "I've been in the same class with her since she started in elementary school. I've never heard her utter a word."

"Have you ever tried talking to her?" Shinji asked a bit knowingly. At their silence he continues. "See, you can't say that you've known her unless you make an effort." Shinji said as he and his friends walked towards the door.

"Shinji?" Toji hesitantly called out.

"What?" The teen asks as he stops.

"When did you get so insightful?" Toji asked with a deep level of curiosity in his voice.

"Ikari?" A voice interrupted Shinji from answering. Turning the group saw their old sensei coming towards them.

"Guys, I'll talk to you later." The teen promised as he walked back into the classroom. Kensuke and Toji looked to each other and nodded. Walking away towards the force that has robbed many humans around their age of hard earned cash; the arcade.

* * *

'Well that certainly was interesting.' Shinji pondered as he strolled out of the school a half an hour later than he had intended to.

"Hey, Third Child!" The pilot of Eva Unit 1 stiffened at the sound of the familiar voice. "I've been waiting for nearly thirty minutes!" Asuka, who is leaning against the gate of the school, yells. "Don't stand there like a dummkopf!" She continued to yell. "Hurry up." The redhead grumbles a bit softer.

"Hai, hai." Shinji said as he fell into step besides her. The redhead stuffed her hands in her skirt pockets and stayed silent on their walk toward Nerv. It only took five minutes for that silence to be broken. "You know, you didn't have to wait for me." Shinji verified a bit tiredly.

"Nah, well…I wouldn't have waited if I knew that you'd take so long." The redhead replies as she looks the other way to show just how annoyed she is.

"Sorry about that. The teacher held me back, he wanted to talk to me about an extra credit assignment or something since the past few weeks my grades were kind of falling to below F's." Shinji uttered. "But since I'm now making an effort, he wants to help me get my grades up." Shinji mumbled. 'Man, who knew that all it took were two A's to get him to help me.'

"So the great Third Child was failing before I came to Tokyo-3?" Asuka asked. "And now you're making in effort in school, just after I came no less. Hmmm." Asuka says in a teasing voice. "Wonder if there's a connection?" The redhead asks a bit sarcastically. "Are you trying to impress me or something?" Asuka teased.

"Keep telling yourself that. Because I sure ain't, don't want your ego getting to big." Shinji countered playfully. Asuka silently gasped at him and playfully hit his shoulder.

"Sure you ain't smitten?" She continued teased playfully.

"Doubtful." Shinji lied through his teeth. "Why do you want to know?" Shinji teased. "Are you hoping I'm smitten?" He asked as he started walking ahead of the girl who gave him a mock glare.

"In your dreams Third Child!" She shouted after him as the two now ran toward Nerv.

Shinji smiled as the two ran side by side. 'I could get use to this.' Shinji stated in his mind. Because for the first time in his life, things were looking up. He felt pretty happy even though the terrors of his past would probably haunt him tonight and the night after and the night after that. Things were looking up, he was feeling hopeful for the future. He was sure that he would be able to protect his friends, and maybe, just maybe break through Asuka's barriers like he was slowly doing now. Sadly it wouldn't be a walk in the park.

* * *

**And there it is, the next chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it. Please send a review or two my way, tell me if you like it or not. Criticism is welcomed; flames are not and will be deleted. **


	7. Easy Days final part

**Let me be the first to say that this chapter wasn't easy to write, I had to rewrite and rewrite just to get it good, anyway I just thought I warn you, so I don't get my head bitten off. XD anyway enjoy!**

**To Cthulhu, Yes I guess you can't really say much about the last chapter. True it isn't really much plot in that one, but think of this as a chess board, I gotta set up the pieces before I can get to the big stuff. And one problem I had with my first attempt at Reloaded was that I had trouble doing character development and character interactions. So I'm trying to fix that. And yes I'm sure you'll find that interesting…or not. Not sure because it isn't going to turn out like you expected, and to find out what I mean by that…well just read on.**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter seven: "Easy" day's final part

Shinji sighed as he lay in bed; his alarm had sounded minutes ago. And by alarm that meant that Misato was on her halfway through her second beer. Yesterday for the first time in a long time he had felt optimistic, now he just felt like crap. After the synch test things had just gone downhill. A part of Shinji was glad that Rei was unaccounted for, Asuka was already mad at him. 'I don't have the energy to keep her off both mine and Rei's cases.' Shinji thought with a frown.

* * *

_Flashback:_

_The two Eva Pilots stood in front of Ritsuko and Misato. Shinji noted that Rei was absent from this synch test but did not comment already having an idea of her whereabouts. 'Father.' Shinji thought to himself as he fought the urge to clench his fist. 'It's because of that man that Asuka, I, nor Rei never had normal childhoods.' Of course though Shinji knew that if his father had never been so resolved to be reunited with Yui, than Rei would have never even existed. _

"_I must say, Shinji. I'm really impressed with your synch-scores." Ritsuko said a bit happily as she wrote a few things down. Shinji mentally gulped as he remembered the synch test before the arrival of the 12__th__ Angel. _

'_Damn it!' Shinji thought to himself as he saw Asuka was now giving him a small glare. 'This is going to end badly.' Shinji realized._

'_Mein Gott!' Asuka thought to herself. 'How can he be impressing that fake blonde doctor! I'm the Ace of Nerv! The pilot of Unit 2, the first production model! While he's stuck with the prototype!'At Ritsuko's next statement Asuka's eyes widened a bit and she parted her lips as she took in the fake blonde's words._

"_Shinji, you're last score was 75.5 during the battle with the last Angel. Today in your own Eva you scored 83.9 percent." Ritsuko announced with a small amount of amazement in her voice. 'How is this even possible?' The blonde haired doctor contemplated as she glared at the clip board. 'Before the sixth Angel he was just under the 60% mark, then he jumps over twenty points?' She continued to ponder upon this conundrum. 'No, I'll need to compare this with the old data. I need to find a variable in this. The only thing that I can see as different is a new Eva pilot. And I highly doubt the Third Child would want the title of top Eva pilot like the Second Child wants to be.' She sighed knowing that she would have to look a bit more into it before developing a stable hypothesis. _

_Flipping through the files in her hand Ritsuko turned to Asuka. "And as for you, Asuka…" She said as she continued to flip. "You're last recorded score during the battle on the ocean was 99.9%, even if it was only for seven seconds it's still a great achievement." Ritsuko stated as Asuka smirked thinking that her status as the Ace of Nerv was safe. 'And also impossible to explain.' The fake blonde thought a bit aggravated that she still couldn't solve this puzzle. "And you're latest score is…72.6%, just a little higher than your usual." The doctor said a bit nonchalantly. _

'_Wrong move, Akagi!' Shinji mentally yelled as he saw Asuka's stricken face._

_Asuka looked down. She couldn't believe it. 'He…he beat me?' it just didn't make sense. Ever since she was four years old Eva had been a huge part of her life. 'It's all I have.' She thought to herself as she ran out of the room. _

"_Asuka!" Shinji yelled after her as he chased her down._

_Misato gave a small sigh at the scene. 'It's like a scene from some crappy TV show or something…' She thought to herself feeling bad for Shinji. 'Just when they're getting along so well…'_

'_How? Why!' Asuka mentally shouted as she ran towards the changing rooms. She would admit that she was finding that Shinji was an alright person. Maybe not someone she could call a best friend. But someone who she could enjoy working with, she had actually been finding the idea of them working together as Eva pilots to be appealing. 'And now…'_

"_Asuka!" He continued to yell as he ran after her. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' The Third Child screamed in his mind. He should have suppressed his synch skills. He knew it wasn't that hard to do. 'But it would be even worse if she found out later.' Shinji knew it would be for the best to reveal his abilities early on. If he were to just hide the full extent of his abilities the possibility of slipping up was high and that would create unwanted questions. 'Even now it's risky.' People knew that he didn't like Eva, so for him to now be so good at synching to Eva would probably arise some questions. But not too much. 'And let's not forget Asuka…This is obliviously a blow to her pride.' Shinji thought as his feet pounded against the ground. "Asuka, stop!" He yelled at her just as she grabbed the knob for the changing room. _

_Asuka froze. '…Third Child…you want my place as top pilot of Nerv, well you got it, but you lost any possibility of friendship.' She thought as she turned and gave the Third Child the best glare she could._

_Shinji came to a slow stop as he recognized that look. 'Oh crap…'_

"_Listen up Third Child!" Asuka announced. "You may have the title of Best Eva Pilot! But you and I are not friends or anything close to that description. As far as I'm concerned you're a two-faced bastard!" The German girl said as she opened the changing room door, walked through and made sure to slam it shut. _

_Shinji looked down sadly as the silence filled the hallway. He was now dripping LCL on the floor from not having gone to the changing rooms right after the test. 'Asuka…Why must it always be like this?' He thought sadly. 'Just when things were going alright, why?'_

* * *

"Yeaaaaah!" Misato's war cry came again.

Shinji rolled over. 'Where's her snooze button?' The male Eva pilot thought a bit sarcastically as he stood up and got changed.

Shinji sighed as he walked towards school, Misato had been persistent in finding out why his mood today was that of his 'old' gloomy self.

* * *

"_Why are you so down looking?" Misato had asked Shinji as he walked into the kitchen. "You look about as lost as you used to." She stated. _

"_What's that supposed to mean?" The Third Child had asked as he checked the fridge to see nothing was in there. "Misato, do you think you might be able to do the shopping today?" He asked in an attempt to make her stray from this topic. _

"_It means." Misato started as she nodded and stood from her seat. "That you're looking as sad as you did when you first came here." Misato said as she stopped in front of the male Eva pilot. "You wanna talk about it?" The violet haired woman asked with genuine concern filling her voice. _

_Shinji glanced discreetly around the room for the clock and saw that he had an honest excuse to get out. "Sorry, Misato, but I'll be late," Shinji said as he made for the door, grabbing his shoes he opened the door and made for the elevator. "Bye!"_

"_Shinji-kun!" Misato yelled but did not pursue. All she did was look down sadly, and sighed as she felt for her charge. _

Shinji sighed sadly as he dragged his feet through the ground. Why did Asuka have to be so difficult? So what if his synch-ratio was higher than hers? Shouldn't she strive to become better? Shinji stopped and gasped. 'That's it, there might be a way to fix this.' He deliberated with a small grin. 'But it's a bit perilous.' He countered. He gave a tired sigh and resumed his walk to school. "But it might be the only chance I'll get."

* * *

Shinji sighed as he now stood on the roof during lunch. He watched from the safety of the roof as his two friends sold pictures over the school. 'Man, if Asuka catches them now, I predict permanent injuries and mental trauma.'

"That's a bit harsh." Kaworu commented as he sat on the guard rail. "I don't think Asuka wants to go to jail."

Shinji gave his friend an incurious look. "When Asuka's pissed logic doesn't works so well. The only way to make her feel better was usually a crap-load of sucking up and making her favorite German dish." Shinji sighed to himself. 'But now it's different. Even when I tried to message her during the teachers lecture she was mad, but it was a more silent anger.'

_Flashback _

_Shinji typed away on his laptop in class. _

_Shinji: Asuka, talk to me_

_Asuka:…_

_Shinji tried again. He wouldn't give up so easily. _

_Shinji: Come on, don't be like that. We're friends. Don't let Eva destroy-_

_Link terminated. Shinji sighed as his screen blanked out. It seems Asuka had gotten tired of his attempts. Glancing at the redhead next to him Shinji saw that she had closed her laptop and placed her head on her desk. 'Damn it.' _

* * *

And added to that Rei returned to school today. Shinji prayed that Asuka and Rei didn't cross paths until the former party was in a better mood. 'Or else sparks could easily fly.' Shinji thought as he saw that Asuka and Rei were on opposite sides of the school. He hoped that they would stay separated for a little bit.

Shinji sighed as he remembered his brief conversation with Rei on the way to school.

_Flashback_

_The Third Child was about halfway to school, he felt a little better than when he had left his home. He hoped that he could resolve this snag in his and Asuka's friendship. If it could even be called that. Shinji crossed the street and in front of him he saw a blue haired girl. Shinji gasped as he recognized her. _

'_Rei…' Shinji hadn't seen or heard from her since he had returned so it was surprising to see her again. _

"_It is all I have."_

_She had said that. Shinji reflects as he narrows his eyes. All she claimed to have was Evangelion. 'It's almost funny when you think about. Her and Asuka aren't that different.' The male Eva Pilot realized. 'If Rei had been more social or if Asuka had been more empathetic they could have been decent friends or even possibly best friends.' Shinji knows that what really destroyed any possible friendship or at least a healthy coworker ship between the two girls was Asuka's jealousy and Rei's inability to communicate well. _

"_Hey Ayanami!" Shinji yelled out gaining her attention. "Wait up!" He yelled after her as he speed up. The blue haired girl ceased all movement and waited. _

"_Hello, Pilot Ikari." Rei monotonously greets her fellow Eva Pilot. _

"_Hey Ayanami, where have you been the past few days?" He questioned as the two fell into step. _

"_I have been undergoing synch test along with under seeing the restoration of Unit 0's armor." Rei explained. "Thus I have been unable to be present at school."_

"_I see, well have you heard about the arrival of the Second Child?" Shinji asked curious as to how Rei would respond._

"_Hai," Rei simply replied. "I have been informed of the onset of the Second Child." Was all she said. _

_Shinji sighed to himself. This almost always happened, whenever he tried to conversant with the First Child he almost always received simple short responses. 'It's always hard to have a conversation with her, and it became even harder after that day.' Shinji mentally grimaced at the thought of all of the Rei clones being destroyed in front of his eyes. _

"_We should hasten our pace if we desire to be on time." Rei said as she sped up. The male Eva pilot sighed mentally as he to sped up. The rest of their walk together was spent in silence. _

* * *

"Thank you!" Toji shouted as he and Kensuke sold another handful of pictures. "Man business is great." The jock said as he placed the money into a box and made sure to lock it.

"Yea, I'll tell you Shinji doesn't know what he's missing." Kensuke said as he placed more developed pictures for view out. "I mean, it's amazing how so many guys and even a few girls will pay for pictures of Asuka, and all because she's hot and an Eva Pilot!" Kensuke excitedly stated as he placed a few more pictures out.

"Maybe we should expand." Toji suggested as another waiting customer walked forward and ordered a picture of Asuka in her swimming clothes.

"What do you mean?" Kensuke asked as he dug up the desired picture and handed it to Toji who gave it to the customer in exchange for his hard earned money.

"I mean, why don't we start selling pics of Rei and Shinji as well. We could make triple the amount." The jock said as he placed the money in their persuado cash register.

"…I'm not sure, I mean I can understand Rei, but for Shinji, come on man, he's our friend. And we both know that he wants nothing to do with our business." Kensuke said as he gestured to the pictures. "So…"

"Well it doesn't hurt to ask, you know?" Toji countered.

Kensuke sighed as he pushed his glasses up. "We can ask, but if he says no, than it means no." Kensuke said firmly.

"Agreed." Toji says with no arguments. "What about Ayanami?" He questioned.

"I'm not really all that sure about her either. I mean sure she's not bad looking at all." Kensuke offered. "But people have never really paid attention to her. So I'm not really sure if people would buy. But it doesn't hurt to try."

"Suzuhara, Aida. What are you two doing?" A monotone voice asked. At this voice Kensuke and Toji both stiffen. The two turned to see a patient looking Rei Ayanami staring at them as she awaits their explanation.

"Uh, running a business." Toji states as Kensuke nods in agreement.

"I see." Rei says as she looks at them, and the items in Kensuke's hand. In a rapid motion the First Child had snatched the pictures from Kensuke's hand. The bespectacled boy gulped in fear as Rei examined the pictures. She briefly recognized the person in the picture as the Second Child from some of the reports she had been allowed to view. "I advise you two to end your 'business' soon." Rei advocated. "I'll keep my silence and refrain from notifying the Second Child, but take note of my recommendation." Rei says as she hands the pictures back to Kensuke and walks away.

Once she was out of earshot Kensuke sighed in relief. "Man, she's weird." Kensuke mumbled. Just as he said that the bell rang signaling that lunch was over. "Time to close up shop." He said to his friend.

"You heard the man, everyone, go. You'll have to wait till tomorrow." The jock said to a bunch of disappointed boys and even a few girls.

* * *

Shinji sighed as Sensei gave another boring lecture of Second Impact. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his fellow Eva Pilots dealing with the torture in their own way.

Asuka looked about ready to pound her head against the desk and give herself a concussion. But she knew that she'd look pretty stupid.

While the First Child was staring out of the window from her new assigned seat.

Shinji sighed as he placed his head on the desk and closed his eyes. This day was in a way going fast, but now it was set on slow motion.

"And then the water levels raised up and…"

Shinji mentally groaned. 'Come on, don't you realize that you tell the same story every single day?'

After long tortuous hours the bell rang signaling the end of school, and thus temporary freedom from the long boring lecture about Second Impact. Shinji walked through the halls alone. Well there were other students there but he did not take note of them. His two friends were heading to the arcade, sadly Shinji had to turn them down again, but promised to go with them on the weekend. 'Now I have to do that extra credit assignment. Jeeze.' Shinji sighs in irritation as he remembers his conversation with Sensei.

* * *

"_Shinji, I've noticed the past few days you've made more of an effort in your studies. Aside from the Class Representative Horaki; you were the only one to score a perfect A on every assignment you've turned in the past three days." The teacher said as he went through a few papers on his desk. Shinji stayed silent as the teacher fished around for a certain paper. "Ah." He muttered. "Here it is." The teacher showed Shinji the paper. _

'_My grades.' Shinji mused as he scrutinized the paper. 'They're pretty awful.' The Third Child affirmed in his mind. _

"_As you can see you're grades have been anything but excellent since you started here." The teacher dryly stated. "But these scores you've received the past few days bumped it up one letter grade. I want to help you, if you were to tutor someone you'd get bonus credit."_

"_But Sensei, that doesn't make sense. If my grades were already terrible, how do you suppose I tutor someone?" Shinji asked a bit skeptical._

"_For one thing, Shinji I do not believe you are stupid. I believe that you have been holding back." The teacher said seeing through Shinji. "I'm sure you can handle." At Shinji's questionable look the teacher sighed. "Listen." He stated. "You go to the library tomorrow, meet the person, try to help them. If it goes well continue with it, if not, don't worry about it."_

_Shinji sighed as he reluctantly nodded. "Fine, I'll do it."_

Shinji sighed to himself in an irritated fashion. 'I shouldn't be doing this, I should be training.' He thought to himself. 'But Kaworu seemed okay with it.'

_Flashback_

_Kaworu sat on the school railing during lunch while Shinji leaned over it watching his two friends sell pictures. 'I swear those two are going to suffer some serious injuries when she finds out.'_

"_So your teacher asked you to do this assignment every Friday?" The 17__th__ Angel queried. _

"_Hai, sadly it'll interrupt with 'training.'" Shinji stated as he quoted the word training. _

_Kaworu smirked to himself. "It's alright, we don't need to train every single day. And it's understandable that you have a life to re-live."The 17__th__ Angel joked._

_The bell then rang, thus ending any further conversation that could have taken place. _

* * *

Opening the library door partway Shinji peeked around. He saw that it was mostly empty. Now opening it fully he walked in and continued to look. He scanned his memory of when his teacher had said that he she'd be in the library and he couldn't miss her.

'Oh shit.' Shinji grimaced as he saw Asuka was sitting at the table he was supposed to go to. 'Don't tell me…damn Sensei, he wants me to teach her Kanji? I'm screwed.' Shinji cursed the irony of him having to tutor Asuka the day after he pisses her off. 'Let's just get this over with.'

The redhead tapped her fingers on the table. 'I can't believe I actually came, I should have just gone home.' She cursed herself. 'Damn me and my pride, why is it I can't break a promise?' She sighed as she knew why.

"Asuka?" A somewhat familiar voice uncertainly said.

'Finally he's here.' Turning she prepared to greet her only to frown at who she saw. 'Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me.' Asuka thought as she stood up and her frown deepened. "Please don't tell me you're my tutor." Asuka gritted through her teeth.

"Sorry Asuka, but I am." Shinji tiredly replied.

'Mein Gott!' She wanted to pull her hair. 'What is this? A fucking manga!'The redhead yelled every obscenity in her head in all the languages she knew.

"Asuka…"

"Shut it, Third!" The redheaded Eva Pilot warned. She sighed in frustration. "Let's just get this over with." She grumbled as she parked herself in her seat and opened her book. Shinji silently plopped himself in the seat beside her.

'How bad could it be?' He thought to himself as he grabbed a pencil.

* * *

About twenty minutes later. "No, no. that's wrong." Shinji softly said as he grabbed the pen in her hand and wrote the word the correct way. "See, it's supposed to read: "The horse ran left." You wrote: "The horse barked left." see you messed up here." Shinji said as he pointed at her failed attempt with her pen before giving it back to her. 'Though I'm unsure of how you mixed up ran with barked.' Shinji thought a bit tiredly.

"I'm wrong again." Asuka said exasperated. "I guess the great Shinji-sama knows everything, doesn't he?" Asuka asked in a sarcastically sweet voice.

Shinji gave a sigh of frustration. She had been being snippy with him the whole twenty minutes. 'I swear I am going to throttle this girl…oh wait, I already did once.' Shinji mentally grimaced at the very dark and very unfunny joke. "Asuka stop that. Okay. I don't get why you're so mad." Shinji grunted as he felt her elbow his ribs. 'Oh god damn it all, why am I in love with such a mean and cruel person?' Shinji mentally cried as he nursed his ribs.

"Oh like you don't know?" Asuka accused infuriated. "You probably think you're better than me, don't you?" She angrily questioned. "Just because you're daddy is a part of Nerv, and now," Asuka seethed. "Now you're the 'Ace of Nerv' Oh great Angel slayer Shinji-sama, do you believe that this lowly wrench will ever be able to one day touch your talent?" She questioned in a very sarcastic tone.

Shinji fixed her a look, it wasn't a look of annoyance or of rage it was one of tiredness. '…Asuka why must you make it hard to get close to you.' He stated with sadness in his heart. "Asuka?"

"Yes, oh so invincible Shinji-sama?" She continues with her sarcastic demeanor.

"Mund halten. (Shut up)" Shinji said as he grabbed a pencil and piece of paper.

"Nani?" Asuka demanded as Shinji started writing. 'Did I hear that right?'

"I said shut up." Shinji simply said with no fear in his voice as he saw her face reddening with rage.

"Oh so the great Shinji-sama wan-." Asuka was cut off as Shinji passed the piece of paper on her book.

"Shut up." Shinji said as he pointed to the piece of paper.

On the piece of paper written in Kanji Asuka was actually able to read this. (Baka-Asuka, shut up.)

"Third Child, You got a death wish?" She angrily demanded at a high volume.

"I honestly don't know why you're so pissed at me, just because I beat you're synch score?" Shinji snorted as Asuka found herself growing even more infuriated.

"Third Chil-!"

"Did you always think that you'd be able to hold you're title without any friendly competition? If anything you should strive to be better." Shinji said in a fake arrogant voice as he crossed his arms. "You want to be the Ace of Nerv?" Shinji asked as he leaned closely to her, too close for comfort in Asuka's case, their noses were almost touching. "Then come after me." With fire in his eyes Shinji challenged as he locked his blue flame filled orbs on her own.

*Thud* Asuka gulped inaudibly as she felt her heart beating increase. She had never been this close to a boy before, despite what many thought. She watched him thoughtlessly lick his lips and gulped again. 'So close, all id have to do is-. No!' Asuka mentally shook her head. 'Bad! Bad!' She scolded herself. 'You shouldn't be acting like a stupid girl from a fucking manga! You should be beating the shit out of this bastard!' it was then that she noticed something off about Shinji. 'His eyes…they don't look confident. They look almost…hopeful?' She questioned. 'But for what?' She mentally sighed in irritation she was too tired, too tired to continue the charade too tired to be mad too tired to…lie.

The past twenty-four hours hadn't been so kind to Asuka, she had actually been in a terrible mood. And not just because of being beaten. But because she had let her pride destroy her possible friendship.

* * *

_Flashback_

_Asuka hugged her pillow, it was late at night. No one at Nerv, besides the night shift were awake. 'He beat me.' She sadly said in her head._

_To her it was a huge blow on her pride. Since meeting Shinji, Asuka had found a friend in him. She did enjoy talking to him sometimes. And even the playful banter was nice. 'But we can't be friends, not if he's beaten me. It's unethical.' Asuka groaned as she threw her pillow._

_To her even that statement sounded stupid. 'Damn me and my pride.' She knew that it was her pride that was doing this. A part of her almost wished that Shinji had gotten happy when he had beaten her score just so she could justify her frustration, but he didn't even seem to care that he was the best pilot. 'He didn't even show any joy when the fake-blonde told him that he beat me.' She sighed as she now laid sprawled over her bed. 'He didn't react until I had ran away.' She knew that he didn't care about Nerv or Eva. And that made it worse, he wasn't even trying and he was the best. 'While I had had to work for at least a year before I could even move a finger of my Eva.' She thought as she resisted the urge to cry. _

"_AHHH!" She stood up. 'Why am I sad!' She yelled in her mind as she walked towards her temporary desk. "It's not like we're friends." She stated bitterly trying to throw this off. She sighed as she looked at the picture taken at the port. _

_It was taken to show their victory. She smiled slightly as she saw him still wearing her spare plug suit. Her arm was draped over his shoulder, if anything she almost had him in a head lock. She was giving the camera a victory sign, while Shinji was sheepishly smiling. They looked almost like…best friends._

_Asuka snorted as she placed the photo face down. She didn't need friends. _

'_What about Hikari?' Her inner voice asked. _

'_Hikari.' Asuka would admit that she enjoyed the girl's personality. And she even thought of a possible future friendship between them, as in possibly going to the mall, sleepovers, possibly talking about boys. _

'_Shinji's a boy.' The inner voice said. _

_She groaned. 'He's a baka!' She thought and then she reached for the frame and picked it up. Even though she had theorized that he was hiding something from her, looking at the photo she found his soft sheepish smile to be…nice. _

'_Stop it Asuka!' She yelled at herself. 'I don't need him, he's the Ace of Nerv now.' She softly said as she looked at the picture as dread filled her heart. 'Nerv…doesn't need me.'_

"You…why are you doing this?" Asuka mumbled.

"What's wrong with a little friendly competition?" Shinji slyly asked.

Asuka frowns at his words. 'You're a fucking liar that's what.' She bitterly said in her mind. Asuka sighed sadly to herself as she looked down. 'But I'm tired of this. Maybe…' She looked up. 'Maybe…Eva's not as important to me as he is.' But why? Why did she care about him at all? 'I only met him not even a week ago!' The redhead shouted in her head.

* * *

"_You need to socialize with people in your own age group."_

"_How long do you think you'll be in Japan?"_

* * *

Asuka mentally groaned as she remembered the words of her all time crush and newest friend. 'What if…I actually let this drop? And accept Shinji's friendship.' Asuka wasn't dumb, even though it had taken her a little bit to deceiver this as an attempt of trying to reconcile their friendship. "…"

During all of this Shinji was silent his heart was beating. He really hoped that she would take the bait, but Shinji also knew that Asuka wasn't a college grad for nothing. '…' Shinji sighed as he saw that she wasn't taken the bait. '…Where did I go wrong?' Shinji sadly asked himself.

"Alright." Asuka said with a devious grin. 'I'll play your game, Shinji.' Asuka decided. With her decision Asuka found herself feeling lighter. "Watch yourself Third Child. You might be the Ace of Nerv, but that spot is designated for yours truly." Asuka arrogantly stated as she placed a hand over her chest. 'I…trust Shinji…do I care for him?' Asuka knew that answer was yes. She knew that she wasn't in love with him or anything like that, god no. Hell she didn't even want that. 'But…maybe…it would be nice…to have a friend…someone I know I can trust. Someone who…I can laugh with, smile with, joke with. Someone like Shinji…' Asuka felt her heart beating from the excitement. "I'll beat you, Third Child." She stated proudly. 'I…want…a friend.'

Shinji smiled at her and extended his hand outwards. "Very well then. I won't go easy on you." He said as Asuka grabbed his hand and the two gave a firm shake. 'Finally, I've finally done something right.'

"I wouldn't expect you to, Shinji."

* * *

Shinji sighed blissfully as he walked back to the apartment. 'Mission accomplished.' He joked in his head. It hadn't been easy to do the whole 'arrogant' façade. But he pulled it off, 'Well maybe it wasn't that hard.' He thought with a tiny smirk. 'I lived with a very great actress for a number of months.' He thought as he walked with a kick in his step. Just then he remembered something he had asked Misato to do this morning for he had not been thinking. "…I asked her to do the shopping…" Shinji muttered horrified as his eyes widened with horror and fear. "Oh shit." Shinji said as he broke into a sprint.

* * *

**Well let me tell you this chapter I had some fun with, but like I said earlier it wasn't easy. I had to rewrite that library scene like ten times. And this was the best I could get, so if it's not that good, I'm sorry. I'm doing my best. So with that said, please review.**


	8. Day of Defeat

**Cthulhu: I didn't speculate that you disliked the previous chapter, you can't like them all though, since I am only doing the best of my abilities, which in all honesty isn't that much. Yes, for once Shinji calls Asuka Baka, about time if you ask me, I added that in because I felt the mood was right, I'll admit that I felt that Shinji's 'Challenge' was a little weird for me to write, I mean to me I felt that It could have been better, but so far people don't seem to mind. As for the 'flashback' thing, I would apologize, but I can't, because that's just self ingrain. I usually add it because, well I've just seen others do it, and well…force of habit I guess. Oh, and thank you. :)**

**And no you are not; I usually do give feedback to my other reviewers if they have an account. If someone without an account does leave a review that I feel the need to comment on I will post it in the chapter, but usually people do use their accounts. So…**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Eight: Day of Defeat

Shinji gave a sigh as he walked to school; for once things were actually turning out pretty well. He and Asuka had gotten along during her first week of school, Shinji had been able to hang out with his two closest friends at the arcade over the weekend. 'And also…' Shinji allowed his mind to drift back to the Sunday morning.

"_Good, you're almost there." Kaworu announced as Shinji tried with all his might to push out his AT-Field. "Remember control you're breathing and you're emotions." Kaworu sternly stated. "Think of the pain my brothers and sisters caused on you and you're friends!" Kaworu shouted. _

"_Arhg…" Shinji grunted as he continued his third attempt. "Ahhhh!"_

"_You're doing it!" Kaworu shouted in a voice that held pride and a subtle amount of surprise. 'Already?' The Angel mentally yelled. 'He's progressing a bit faster than I anticipated.' He mentally spoke as he watched a red octagon appear in front of Shinji. 'Good, we're ahead of schedule.' The Angel mentally noted with a small smirk as he watched Shinji's eyes flash red before returning to their normal blue hue._

"_Huff, huff, huff." Shinji breathed out as he watched the red octagon that had appeared in front of his out stretched palm. It stayed in place for a second before shattering. "Urgh…" Shinji dropped to one knee, exhausted. 'I lost it.' Shinji thought to himself. '…At the last second.' He hung his head in shame._

"_Very well done, Shinji." Kaworu announced as he walked over to his 'student.' "You're moving at a good pace." He said as he saw Shinji's expression. "So don't be sad if you couldn't hold it for long. With time comes skill." _

* * *

Shinji looks down at his palm with an irked expression. For those three seconds he held power, it felt amazing but at the same time terrifying. 'Having that power…is frightening.' Shinji softly mumbled in his head. 'What if…what if I lose control…what if…I become like them?' Shinji asked himself. 'Like those Angels…'

"Guten Morgen, Shinji!" The Third Child stopped in his tracks as he heard a familiar voice. Turning over his shoulder he saw a familiar redhead.

'Ah…' Shinji offered a smile. "Good morning, Asuka." Shinji greets as he falls into step with the redhead. "How are you liking Tokyo-3 so far?" Shinji asks as he attempts to push down depressed feeling he felt seconds ago.

"It's fine." The redhead casually says. "But Germany is better." She grumbles. "I've already been here a week and I'm sick of Japanese food!" She complained. "And I only know how to get to school and Nerv, I'm lost in this stupid city." She admits to Shinji's surprise.

"Well if you want I could show you around." The Third Child offers with an honest smile.

"Hey, I don't go on dates so easily." The redhead teased.

"Again with insinuating that it's a date." Shinji says in a false annoyed voice. "Are you sure you're not hinting here, don't tell me you're a tsundere?"

"Quiet, baka!" The redhead orders a bit annoyed at being called a tsundere. "This isn't a stupid romance manga or anime. So don't get your hopes up, baka." Asuka says as she crosses her arms. Shinji decided to shut up now as to not evoke the wrath of the redhead. "By the way…" Asuka started out signaling that the pervious conversation was closed. "Where is she?" Asuka inquired looking around the school campus.

"Ayanami?" Shinji inquires already sure of his suspicions.

"Hai," Asuka mumbles as she continues to glance around. "The First Child, whatever her name is."

"Rei Ayanami…" Shinji whispers silently as he looks around. Just as Rei came into sight Shinji felt a stinging sensation at the back of his head. 'What the?' Shinji clutches his head as the familiar sensation hits him. 'This feeling…' it's like at the beach. The Third Child tightened the grasp on his head and then Shinji screamed as his world faded to black.

* * *

"_I'll show you the truth." Ritsuko Akagi says as she presses a small button. The room lit up and Shinji let out a startled gasp as he saw the countless clones of Rei Ayanami. _

"_Rei Ayanami…" Shinji states as he stares at the clones in horror. The naked clones hear his words and turn to him with friendly expressions and giggles. _

"_The Eva's dummy plug is…" Misato's shock and surprise is etched on her features. _

"_Yes." The blonde doctor states. "These are clones will become the core for the dummy plug system." She ruthlessly says. "These are merely dummies." Her voice holds a bit of bitterness. "And nothing but parts for Rei. Humanity found a god, and thus tried to take this god's power." The fake blonde continued. " As a result humanity was punished. It happened fifthteen years ago." Ritsuko says as she glances at Shinji and Misato. "The god that was discovered disappeared. Humans attempted to revive god with their own power. Adam was created, a human made from Adam to be close to the god."_

"_That is Eva." Shinji hears the doctor explain as he continues to stare at the Rei clones who look back at him with expressions of joy and happiness, emotions that he has rarely seen on the true Rey Ayanami. _

"_Human?" The Third Child inquires. "Is that a human?"_

"_Yes," The doctor confirms. "That is a human. Eva, which originally had no soul, all now houses a human soul." The doctor went on to explain."All of these were salvaged. However the vessel which truly contains a soul is Rei. Only she has a soul. None of these vessels contain a soul." Ritsuko claimed, thus finishing her explanation on the Rei clones. _

"_There was nothing in the room of Gauf. These Rei-like things don't have a soul. Nothing but voided vessels. So I will destroy them because I loathe them." The Blonde doctor quietly states as she presses a button on her controller. _

_Misato's gasp falls death on Shinji's ears as he watches with a horrifying expression as the Rei clones disappear into the LCL. They all laugh and giggle while dissolving as if they feel no pain, or any other human emotion. '…Ayanami…'_

Blue eyes slowly fluttered open, Shinji blinked to allow his eyes to become accoutered with the bright lights of the hospital. 'Where am I?' The Third Child questioned as he rubbed his head.

"Ikari-kun." Shinji blinked as he heard the familiar voice.

"Ayanami?" Shinji questioned as he attempted to lift himself up. After a second he felt a pair of soft hands assist him. And he soon found himself looking into the red eyes of Rei Ayanami.

"_hee, Hee." The sound of soft almost insane giggles could be heard as the clones dissolved into the LCL._

* * *

Shinji gasped as he recalled his dream. 'Another one…' Upon closing his eyes. 'Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare…When will it end?' The Third Child questioned tiredly. 'But why was that particular memory the one I saw?' Shinji knows that he has spoken to Rei at least once or twice since coming back in time. So why did that particular memory pop up? 'Probably just my own warped head trying to mess me up even more than I already am.' Shinji thought to himself with a grimace.

"Are you alright, Ikari-kun?" Rei questioned as she noted that he was a bit pale.

"Yeah…I'm okay." Shinji assured while trying to feign wellness. "Where am I?" He questioned. "What time is it?" He asks a bit further as he looks around the room for a clock.

"You are in the nurse's office, earlier you fainted on the school grounds and you were brought here." Rei stated as she remembered the incident.

"_AHHHH!" Shinji wailed as he let out an inhuman shriek. Asuka stiffened in surprise and watched her friend fall to the floor, she was at his side seconds later calling out his name softly as she shook him. _

"_Shinji?" The redhead inquired a bit worryingly as she gently shakes him. "Shinji!" She yells as she starts to get even more worried. The girl turns to see a small crowd gathering. Amongst the crowd is Rei Ayanami who had been reading her book seconds ago, only to be interrupted when Shinji had collapsed. She watched with an uncommon, for her, expression, concern. "Someone help!" Asuka roared at the crowd afraid for her friend's health. _

'_Ikari-kun…'_

"That was a few hours ago." Rei stated. "It is now almost lunch time." Her monotone voice reached Shinji's ears.

"Why…" Shinji paused as he swallowed some saliva in an in vain attempt to rehydrate his throat. "Why are you here, shouldn't you be in class?" The brown haired boy inquired.

"Because…" Shinji could tell that she was a little…hesitant in answering. "I was…" She paused for a second. 'I was worried.' She nodded to herself. "I was worried…about Ikari-kun." The Third Child only remains silent to her words. "…Ikari-kun?"

"Yea?" Shinji inquires.

"Is there something wrong?"

"No." Shinji lies as he shakes his head. "Nothing's wrong."

Rei stares at Shinji for a few minutes. "If there is something wrong…" She hesitates. "You…you can tell me…" She stops unsure of what to say or do next.

At that the door opens to show Asuka. She opens her mouth to speak only to be silenced as the alarms go off. The three Eva pilots look at each other knowing what it meant. "Angel…" Asuka states.

'Angel…' The First and Third Children state in their minds.

* * *

"My debut battle in Japan, and I can't even go solo…" Asuka moaned to herself as she now sat in her Eva awaiting orders.

"Uh Asuka…"

"What?" The girl snaps at the pilot of Eva Unit 1.

"Nothing…" Shinji says deciding it to be a bad idea to piss off the German girl as he values his life.

* * *

"Two against one?" Asuka playfully inquires as she stares at the Angel. "Quite unfair if you ask me." The girl said as her Eva trained its rifle on the Eva.

An angry and ticked off Misato appeared on Asuka's monitor. "I don't care," She says in an annoyed and frustrated voice. "This is how we survive."

'I don't think she's mad at Asuka…' Shinji mumbled in thought. 'More like…Kaji.' Yep he had seen the memory of when Misato walked in on Kaji embracing Ritsuko Akagi and had mentally laughed at the jealousy Misato portrayed, it was almost comical.

Shinji sighed to himself as he prepared his attack. This time he had volunteered on taking the lead, thus he would strike first. 'And hopefully end it quickly.' Shinji gripped the controls. "Cover me!" The Third Child yelled to his comrade as he charged the Angel. 'What the?' Shinji could see a small beam of light coming from the Angel's head. 'Is it…attacking?'

From what Shinji briefly remembered the Angel made no real moves until after Asuka split it in half. What made now different? "No matter…" Shinji quietly says as he dodges the white beam of light shot at him. 'Nothing will stop me.' He mentally claims as he jumps into the air. 'Because…' He grips his controls and goes in for a diagonal swipe. "I have nothing to lose…" He breathes in, and it's at that second his eyes shift to crimson. And breathe out. "Ahhh!" Shinji's AT-Field exploded in a burst of raw power which blew away the two separated pieces of the 7th Angel.

"Show off…" Asuka muttered as she let her guard down. She gave a half smile. 'Gotta admit though,' she softly started out. 'He is pretty good; I need to become even better. Shinji Ikari, I will surpass you.' Asuka proudly promises as she prepares to eject her plug.

The two pieces quickly reformed mid air. "What the hell?" Asuka screamed as the orange Angel fired off a blue beam at Shinji, while in synch the sliver Angel also fired off a red beam at the purple Eva.

'Last time…you defeated us...' Shinji stated in his mind. His red eyes narrowed. 'But…this time…you won't hurt anyone. I'll trash you!' Shinji willed his Eva to back flip away and fire off his AT-Field back at the Angels. Shinji fires opens his shoulder compartment as he lands on solid ground.

"Shinji!" Asuka yells as she opens fire on the Angels. Shinji gasped as he saw that the twin Angels were on his trail.

'They're faster than I remember.' Shinji muses as he parries their simultaneous attacks. 'And the rifle is nearly useless. The only weapon that seems to ever work without fail is…' Shinji gripped his Prog-Knife tightly. "AHHH!" He shouted as he stabbed the orange Angel's shoulder. 'Crap!' Shinji mentally shouted as he ducked.

If he hadn't ducked he would have been taken out by a sneak attack from the sliver Angel. Shinji quickly willed his Angel to perform a sideways cartwheel, upon coming out of said cartwheel Shinji made sure to kick the Sliver Angel into the orange one. And gave a shout as he fired off his AT-Field.

* * *

Meanwhile at Nerv HQ everyone viewing the battle was simply amazed, they had seen Shinji fight a handful of times and they had never seen this. Misato was jaw slacked. She couldn't believe that her charge had it in him. While Ritsuko was unable to comprehend this new development. 'How can he be doing this?' It's impossible. 'I need to figure this out underneath Gendo's head.' The blonde doctor decided as she would solve this before Gendo caught wind of this new development.

"Huff. Huff." Shinji panted a bit tired from fighting a battle on two fronts. 'Man!' He thought to himself as he dodged another attack. 'They're tougher than I remember.' He mentally noted as the two ganged up on him. 'And it seems that they're both coming after me.'

"Shinji duck!" Out of his peripheral l vision Shinji saw a missile coming his way.

'Shit!' Shinji mentally yells as he rolls out of the way just narrowly dodging the projectile.

"Damn, no effect!" Asuka yells in frustration as she chucks the missile launcher she had pulled from a building. 'Huh?' She gasps as she sees the two Angels towering over her. She shouts as they strike, luckily she had willed her Eva to roll away from the attack.

"Asuka!" Shinji yells as she comes out of her roll. He sighs in relief as he saw that she was for the most part okay. 'But we can't keep this up…' Shinji mutters in his mind. 'And even if I could it'd be nearly impossible to synch with Asuka, but more importantly…the Angels, they're stronger.'

'Now what?' Was what Shinji asked himself as he found himself and Asuka back to back. 'They're even worse than last time.' Shinji was certain that if he didn't do anything soon than he would lose. '…' He turned to his support. "Asuka." He called out. 'I have to take them out quickly, one more burst should at least give her time to run.' Shinji was certain that at her current level she wouldn't be much help, even he was having trouble. 'I…I don't want her to her to fall with me…I don't want her to die…I don't want her to follow me to hell.'

"What, Third?" She questions hoping that Shinji has some sort of plan.

"Open your shoulder compartment." Shinji firmly ordered.

"Huh?" The redhead inquires with surprise at the odd order. '…'

"Trust me…" Shinji quietly mummers.

'…I trust you.' Asuka sighed as she opened her Eva's shoulder compartment.

The redhead gasps at what Shinji does next. The Third Child willed his Eva to side-step and grab Unit 2's red Prog-knife. 'You're gone…' Shinji mentally states as he jumps above Asuka's Eva. 'Line…'the two Angels jump at the same time. 'Hook…' Their faces start to glow the familiar colors. 'Sinker!' Shinji's AT-Field explodes just seconds after he throws both his Prog-knife and Asuka's at the two Angels.

The purple Eva lands on its feet only to slump to one knee. '…' Shinji is out of breath and completely exhausted. 'That was all I had…I can't go anymore…' He gulped as he watched the two Angels already moving towards him and Asuka. The sliver and orange Angel's injuries were already slowly healing. He could see that the two knifes were deeply embedded into the skulls of the Angels. "Asuka, run." Shinji pleads. The red Eva makes absolutely no movements, Shinji stares at the Eva begging for the pilot to comply with him. "Asuka, run!" He repeats with more urgency.

"Shut up!" The redhead shouts from inside her Eva. 'Asking me to run?' She felt insulted. 'How dare he?' How could he order her to run as if he was her superior. Just because he happened to have more experience than her, something she reluctantly admits, gives him no right to boss her around. "I'm not running like a coward, so listen up Third! As Eva Pilots we fight together, we win together, and we die together!" Asuka shouts out with determination as she charges the orange Angel head on.

Shinji can only look down as he hears the sounds of Asuka getting thrashed by the Angels. '…I failed…I still cause her suffering…it seems all I can do is cause other's suffering…why did I lose?'

'**Because you couldn't trust your partner.'** A familiar voice rings out.

"Huh?" Shinji says just seconds before his Eva suffers a similar fate as Asuka's just received seconds ago, defeat.

* * *

**Okay, I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while. My pc did catch a virus last week and I've lost a few of my chapters. It might be a while before I get the next chapter up for I've lost every chapter after this one. So don't think that this is the end of me, but I probably won't be updating until the start of summer because I don't even really have the time to rewrite those chapters at the moment, studying for finals and all. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I promise you that you all will hear more from me. **


	9. Aftermath

**Well, it sure has been sometime since my last update, I am truly sorry for making you all have to wait so long. I honestly wish that I could say that I've been working hard on this the whole time, but I can't. Unfortnaly school has been too much of a time consumer, and also I had other projects that took up my time, as well as the fact that I am trying to have a life. So I can promise that I am not done just yet, I swear that I will soon begin writing again. But I will be taking a small hiatus, probably until around 4****th**** of July, for I am going to be going on vacation soon and I'm also currently at the moment submersed in another project that I wish to spend my time on. But that's beside the point, let's just begin this chapter. **

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Nine: Aftermath

Shinji walked into his apartment he shares with Misato Katsuragi. He looked around the small place and sighed knowing that in a few hours his 'peaceful' days were going to be void from his life for the next week and possibly longer. 'Hell…' He slips off his shoes and mumbles a small "Tadaima." before walking to his room for something that would soon become a rarity, peace and quiet.

Sliding the door closed Shinji dropped his school bag on the ground, too tired to deal with the meager amount of homework he was assigned, and walked to his bed. With a frustrated groan the Third Child fell onto his bed and landed with a small thump. He closed his eyes as memories from the past hour or so filled his head.

_An LCL covered Shinji Ikari stood next to an equally LCL coated Asuka Langley Soryu. The latter of which wore an irritated look, while Shinji just looked plain tired. 'I lost…' Were his thoughts. He had been bested by an enemy he had once defeated. It wasn't the lost that made him depressed it was the thought of 'What would I have done if Asuka or somebody else had been hurt?' was what haunted him. _

_What if this had been the Tenth Angel and it had decided to drop in a different location? Or what if Shinji had miscalculated the drop and missed? Misato would be gone, Asuka would be gone, Rei would be gone, Toji would be gone, Kensuke would be gone, everything precious to him would be gone. Shinji clenched his fist at these dark thoughts._

_Shinji glanced at the aged Vice-Commander. "Despicable." The Vice-Commander stated as he made no attempt to hide his disdain for the pilot's lack of professionalism which was quite clear in his voice. _

_Shinji and Asuka simultaneously sighed as the screen in front of them changed into Asuka's red Eva which currently had its head stuck in the ground. "At 10:59 AM today Units One and Two both engaged combat with the Seventh Angel. Putting up a valiant fight Eva Unit 1 managed to hold its own against the Angels, unfortunately Eva was no match for the Angel." Maya Ibuki paused. "Unit 1 was defeated moments after Unit 2 was subdued by the Angel."_

"_This is your entire fault!" Asuka accused her fellow Eva Pilot. "How could you mess up my debut battle in Japan?"_

"_My fault?" Shinji questioned tiredly. "How is it my fault?"_

"_Because you just charged into battle!" The redhead shrieked. "You didn't even think to group together and come up with a plan." She grumbled. Shinji just sighed at the irony of her statement. "Got nothing else to say, Third?" Asuka asks in a pissed off tone. _

"_You both humiliated us." Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki statement breaks up Asuka's verbal lashing. _

_The room was quiet until Lt. Ibuki spoke up. "At five after eleven the U.N. attacked the target with an N2 bomb." At that time the screen changes to show a charred Angel. Shinji was pretty sure he heard the Vice-Commander mutter something about redrawing the maps. "They succeeded in burning down twenty-eight percent of the component substance." _

"_This is only keeping it immobile; there's no telling as to when it will resume its assault." The Vice-Commander states a bit tiredly in a dry tone. _

"_Well at least we earned a bit of time to regroup." Kaji stated trying to lighten things up a bit. _

_Fuyutsuki pointedly ignores Kaji's words. "Do you two know what your job is?" He questions the Eva Pilots. _

_Asuka is quick to answer. "To pilot Eva, of course." She states as though it's the most oblivious thing in the world while Shinji just stayed silent with his head down. _

"_Wrong!" The Vice-Commander shouts. "Your job is not to pilot Eva, it is to destroy the Angels. Nerv doesn't exist to make such grotesque displays such as this!" The enraged Vice-Commander angerly bellows as he points to the screen of the red Eva with its head stuck in the ground. "The two of you," He then points to Shinji and Asuka. "WILL learn cooperation." He stressed in a firm voice. _

"_Why should we?" Asuka demanded in rage while Shinji only looked away. _

"_That's enough." The aged man quietly says as he exits the room. It's at that second that the lights come back on. _

'…'_Shinji sighs as he releases his closed fist, with an additional sigh he vacates the room to go to the changing rooms. _

"_Why is everyone so stingy here?" The redhead whines to the only other occupant of the room. _

"_Because," Kaji starts out as he stands to his feet. "Adults don't like being embarrassed." Are his parting words as he to leaves the room. _

_The redhead looks down as she clenches both her fist. '…I was useless…' She knows it. She had made no difference in that battle. If Shinji had been out there alone the result would have either been the same or at least similar. She glances sadly at the screen where her Eva is being pulled from the ground. '…' Then at the screen where Shinji's Eva is being retrieved. '…He really is the ace…am I…am I wasting my time in trying to defeat him?' She shakes her head. 'Damn it! No I won't lose!' She remembers the incident that really made her mad. 'He told me to run, I am not your subordinate, I will defeat you I will surpass you…I will reclaim my title as Ace of Nerv.' Asuka mentally declares as she leaves the room. _

* * *

"_Hah." Shinji gives a sigh as he finishes drinking his bottle of water. _

"_That was quite a show there, Shinji-kun." A familiar voice rings out. Shinji gives a small gasp and turns to see Kaji. "Hey there." The man greets as he takes a seat on the bench near the vending machines. _

"_Hi." Shinji greets back. He's unsure of how to act around this man. '…whys he talking to me so soon?' He wondered. Shinji would admit that Kaji was probably the closest thing to some sort of father figure in his life. Shinji also knows that in this time Kaji could prove to be one of his greatest allies in protecting his friends when the world goes to hell. '…'_

"_Like I said, that was quite a display out there Shinji-kun. Very nicely done." The unshaven man honestly complements the Third Child. _

_Shinji leans back slightly. "Save your complements." Shinji says in a crestfallen tone. "I lost." His eyes narrowed. 'And it could have cost me everything.'_

"_Well," Kaji rubs the back of his neck. "At least you live another day to fight."_

_Shinji gives a small sigh as he looks around. He can see that everyone is running around, it seems that everyone is also pulling triple duty. "Things have kinda gone a bit crazy, huh?"He comments trying to change the topic a bit. _

"_That's true, what with the Angel everyone is trying to prepare for the second assault." Kaji lazily comments. "Even Misato doesn't have time to drive ya back to school. She'll probably be busy through the whole day." He comments. _

"_Yea," Shinji stands up. "Well, it was nice talking to you Kaji." Shinji says as he extends a hand. "I need to head home." He says as Kaji a wave goodbye. _

* * *

Shinji falls back onto his bed and groans. He just can't get over it, it just keeps irking him. 'Lost.' Shinji has never been the type to be so hung up about a lose, but this time the stakes were too high. 'I have nothing to lose,' Shinji sits back up and leans forward until his elbows are touching his knees. 'But they do…one mistake on my part…and they all lose.' Shinji clenches his fist as he changes positions and is now lying on his side. "What do I do?" He questions as he drifts off into oblivion.

"Just move that stuff to that room." A familiar voice awoke Shinji from his slumber. He gasped as he realized that he had fallen asleep. When had his head even hit the pillow? Shinji gave another gasp as he heard footsteps coming his way.

'Oh crap!' He shot outward and gripped on the door to his room. After a second he felt someone pulling on it from the other side. Shinji used all of his strength to keep the door in place. 'I don't feel like losing my room…' Shinji gritted his teeth as he feels the person on the other side juggle with the door.

"Ma'am we can't open this door!" The mover, as Shinji would guess him to be, shouted out to Asuka.

"Nani?" Her voice called out in surprise and annoyance.

"Yea, we can't get it open, the door's jammed." The man explained in his weird accent. To Shinji he sounded as though he lived in the south of the USA.

"Let me try." Shinji gulps as he feels her grip the door handle.

'I'm dead!' He grips his side of the door just as hard, and then he feels her pull with great force. Shinji inaudibly gasped as he saw that the door was starting to budge and that it was close to flinging open. 'Help…' Just then he saw it, his hands were covered in a dim blue light. 'What in the world?' Just then the door slammed completely shut. '…' Shinji stepped back and examined his hands which were still illuminated from the blue glow.

"The hell?" Asuka shrieked as she saw that 'her' new bedroom door wouldn't open as the occupant on the other side thanked his lucky stars that she hadn't noticed the blue glow. "Fricken drunkard can't afford a decent apartment." She mutters in annoyance.

"Sorry, ma'am, but I don't have all day, so can you point me to where I could drop this stuff." The mover inquires as politely as possible but also in a bit of an urgent voice.

"Yea…Just over there." Shinji hears Asuka speak in a bit of an annoyed tone.

Shinji sighs in relief as he drops to the floor. 'That was close…' He glances at his watch to see that he had slept for nearly four hours.

'What was that though?' He questions as he sits on his bed. Shinji scratches his head; he has no idea how he did that. 'Was it my AT-Field?' He wonders. Just then Shinji felt a vibrating in his pants pocket, reaching into his pocket he pulled his rarely used cell phone and glanced at the screen to see that it was an unknown number. 'Who's calling me?' is what he asked himself as he opens phone.

"Hai, it is." 

"Kaworu?"

"Yes?"

Shinji sighs as he sees that the Angel is seated right next to him holding a small black phone next to his ear. 'Why am I not surprised?' The Third Child thinks to himself as he closes his phone and stands up. "How?" Shinji questions a bit tiredly despite having slept for the past few hours.

"How what?" Kaworu innocently asks his friend.

"Don't play dumb with me." Shinji says through gritted teeth as he is too tired to deal with Kaworu's attitude.

"You know, Shinji." Kaworu says as he scratches his head. "You've got a nice room; I can see why you skipped school and training to save it." He playfully says as he stands to his feet.

The Third Child clenches his hands. Then he gasps as he sees that his hands are once again glowing, but only this time his hands illuminate a steady crimson color.

"A test."

"You know, I'm kinda tired of these test of yours." Shinji says as his tolerance level is reaching its peak.

"I know." Kaworu off-handedly says. "But, I needed to be sure of something." The sliver haired Angel says in a serious tone.

"What?"

"You see Shinji there is something you should know." Kaworu says as he appears to be completely serious. "You are the first human with Angelic powers, and as a natural born human you're AT-Field is slightly different than ours." The Angel says as he stresses the word 'slightly.'

"Great." Shinji mutters as he leans on his door. 'I'm a freak among freaks.' Crossing his arms he gives a sigh. "So how exactly am I different?" He inquires honestly interested in knowing how this could affect his mission to save his friends.

"You're AT-Field is dependent on how you're feeling."Kaworu explains. "For example, the other day you're AT-Field was red. That's because I told you to feel rage or anger for my brothers and sisters, thus your AT=Field matched you're rage and turned a bright scarlet color." Then the Angel's red eyes narrow. "But, let's say you're having a terrible day, as in everything is going wrong. If you felt miserable enough you're AT-Field would become brittle and easily breakable. You would be utterly defenseless."

Shinji looked down to his clenched fist at this recently relayed news. '…' Sighing he looked back up at Kaworu. "Would this also affect my ability to conjure an AT-Field within Eva?" He inquired.

Kaworu looked up in thought as he hadn't considered that. "Perhaps, but remember you're AT-Field and the Eva's AT-Field are two different entities, with you having a second AT-Field at your disposal, you are now a much more dangerous adversary against my brothers and sisters."

Just then Shinji heard the shower turn on, signaling that the Second Child had opted to take a shower. 'Oh that reminds me.' Shinji thought to himself as he rose to his feet to go and do something that he had been putting off for a little too long. "Sorry Kaworu, we'll speak about this later, but I should probably do the laundry before Misato gets home." Kaworu evaporated into thin air as Shinji exited the room.

* * *

'This feels pretty good.' Asuka thought to herself as she stood underneath the warm water. 'This shower is much better than the one at Nerv; wonder what it'd be like to take a nice warm bath?' She considered as she looked down at the tub.

'Shoot, I forgot to grab my own shampoo,' Asuka thought annoyed as she mentally smacked her head for being so forgetful. 'Oh well,' Reaching over Asuka glanced to see two bottles of shampoo. 'Lavender?' Asuka wasn't surprised that the woman didn't have a shampoo that smelt of beer. 'Dear lord,' Asuka decided not to ever let that possibly get to the drunkard who would be her guardian for the duration of the Angel Wars. The other bottle was an unscented one; she'd easily assume it to be the Third Child's.

'I wonder where they're going to place him.' She mused as she squeezed a small amount of shampoo from the unscented bottle. He wouldn't mind was what she told herself as she begun lathering her hair. Asuka also started to consider where they could place Shinji; she knew that Shinji wouldn't be living with his father. For the redhead remembered that during one of their random conversations that Shinji had told her a little bit of his disdain for his father. 'Another thing we have in common,' She thought to herself as she remembered her own feelings of loath against her father.

'He'll probably be living alone.' Then her eyes narrowed as another possibly entered her head. 'What if they moved him into the First Child's apartment?' She couldn't resist the scowl at that. Then her eyes widen slightly. 'Why do I care? Wasn't I pissed at him a few hours ago?' The redhead grumbles as she narrows her eyes again.

Unfortunately the Second Child had no chance to come up with an answer to those questions as the warm water suddenly became cold. 'Son of a bitch!' Asuka swore as she evaded the water and jumped out of the shower.

Her body shook and shivered as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around her body. 'Stupid drunk! She can't even afford a decent apartment with warm water!' Asuka mentally screamed and shrieked as she exited the bathroom only to bump into a confused and flustered Shinji who had heard the cruses.

Asuka landed on her behind, as she looked up she prepared to cuss out Misato only to scream upon realization that it was instead Shinji Ikari. "Baka-Hentai!" Asuka screeched as she leapt to her feet, delivered a slap to Shinji's right cheek and raced to her room.

The Third Child couldn't help but rub his red cheek. 'I probably deserve that.' Shinji sighs as he stood to his feet and picked up the laundry basket he had dropped.

"Well, it's nice to know that you and our new roommate are both getting along." A sly voice says from behind the Third Child.

"Hi Misato, how was your day?" Shinji genuinely curious replies as he picks up the discarded clothes.

"It was fine Shinji-kun." Misato warmly replies as she glances towards the room that Asuka had rushed for. 'I'm a little surprised that she didn't confiscate Shinji's room.'

"What the hell is he doing here?" A loud and obliviously angry voice shouts. "I thought that he would have already moved out!"

"Aww Asuka, I thought that you knew that we were going to be one big happy family!" Misato teases as Shinji honestly tries to hold in the laugh.

"Oh, hell no!" Asuka shouts as she finally slams open her door. Shinji can see that she is still visibly cold, for she was shaking slightly and also the fact that her 'headlights' were pointing. And Shinji could easily see this for the redheaded German girl had decided to forgo a bra in her haste.

'Don't look down…don't look down for the love of god!' Shinji mentally screamed as he resisted the temptation to stare at her 'headlights.' "Uh Asuka…Is it cold?"

"You fucking smart ass!" The redhead screeched at Shinji not realizing his true meaning. 'He's the little snot that ruined my shower, If that fucking drunkard wasn't here I could kill him…it wouldn't be that hard, I'd make it look like an accident…'

"Haha haha!" Misato just busted out laughing. "Oh my god, that is so funny!" She shouts in-between laughs as she clutches her sides.

"How the hell is this funny?" Asuka mutters as she considers the possibility of locking Misato up in a loony ward.

"Asuka, are you excided?" A red faced Misato questions the clueless German girl in-between laughs and giggles as she tries, in vain, to regain her breath.

"What the hell is she on?" An enraged Asuka questions the Third Child. "Is she still getting drunk during the day!"

'Yes.' Shinji mentally sighs as he realizes that he needs to explain to her. "Asuka look down and it will all make sense." Shinji instructs as he braces himself for the slap.

'Look down?' Asuka did just that, and boy did she release a scream. Wait…'He realized it before I did...' that could only mean one thing. "Baka-Hentai!" Asuka screeched as she slapped the crap out of the poor abused Third Child's right cheek, all the while as Misato giggled and laughed.

'What have I gotten myself into?' Shinji questions as he watches the receding form of Asuka Langley Soryu.

* * *

Sometime later the three residents of the Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu apartment found themselves setting at the table as they discussed the 'new' tactic to take down the 7th Angel.

Shinji and Asuka were both seated next to each other, much to the dismay of the former. 'She's in striking distance, Misato help!' The Third Child mentally pleaded the only mother figure of his life.

"The seventh Angel has but only one weakness," Misato says before slamming her beer can onto the table. "A simultaneous two-point attack on each target's core when its components are separated."

"Layman's terms." Shinji mumbles almost bored as he already knew the plan. Despite also knowing that the Angel had apparently had a power boost, the same tactic should still, in theory, work quite effectively.

"Basically an attack by both Eva Units 1 and 2. With perfect synchronized timing." Misato states as the redhead casts a small glare at the Third Child. 'Still pissed, I see.' Misato thinks to herself amused at the two. "Therefore," Misato tries her best to contain her laugh at the facial expressions of her charges. "You two will be living here, together." Misato, smirk and all, states as she takes a swig of her beer.

Asuka is quick to protest. "No way in hell, I refuse to live with this baka-hentai!" She screeched, really it was amazing that her voice wasn't worn out yet.

'Wonder what she sounds like in-! Baaaad, Shinji, remember she is in striking distance! Do not think things that can get you killed, or knocked out.' Shinji berates himself.

Slamming her palms onto the table Asuka, oblivious of the perverted thoughts of Shinji Ikari, continues. "Boys and girls not married or related shouldn't even sleep under the same roof after age seven!" Asuka shouts loudly.

Shinji, ignoring all danger, sighs in false exasperation. "Well, if you want, we could always get married!" He shouts to the annoyance and embarrassment of Asuka and to the amusement of Misato.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Misato throws her head back and begins laughing at the statement, and at Asuka's red face.

"Baka!" Asuka screams as her fist connects with Shinji's face, because of his stupid joke, Shinji would spend the rest of the day blacked out.

* * *

**And there you go, that was chapter nine, I hoped you all enjoyed it; I also hoped that it was worth the wait. Sadly I probably won't be writing for this story anytime soon. I'm sadly, despite being out of school, have no time or motivation. **

**But don't think that I have given up on this story; I sure as hell don't plan to do that. Just be patient and I WILL have a new chapter up as soon as I can. **


	10. ReSynching

**To Cthulhu, Sorry I couldn't respond to you're last review in my previous chapter like I had said I would, been kinda busy. Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoyed my last chapter. And I'm also glad that you and I think the same way, Asuka isn't a bitch, just to be one. Now yes she does have her moments where she is, but what woman doesn't? XD (Oh, I am so going to get my ass kicked for that one XD) Anyway, you said that you would like to help me write a chapter near the climax of the story, well yes you would have to make an account, and I'm not a hundred percent sure about co writing a chapter with someone, as I've never considered it, but the idea doesn't sound bad, it just depends on later, create your account, message me and we'll discuss it in private and if we do decide to co write this near climatic chapter, i'll want you to wait until just before the chapter so that way you can see how this story will go, I've already got a handful of ideas of my own.**

**Well here is my next chapter, wow I've been working pretty hard on this one. I actually started writing this as soon as I posted my last chapter. So it's almost been ten days. And I'd say that nearly 5000 words is pretty damn good. Anyway I will say that the next update will be quite a while away as I am going to be going on a trip soon, I am taking my computer so I might be able to get some writing in, but I'm not sure as to how much, and also the internet service is quite pricy where I'm going so I won't be able to even post them until I get home. So please be patient like you all have before. So without further ado, enjoy.**

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Ten: Re-Synching

"I wonder what's up with Shinji." Toji the stomach questions his long time friend, Kensuke.

"I have no idea; he's been out of school for three days already." The glasses wearing army obsessed teen stated. "Maybe he finally wised up and decided it was best to avoid the redheaded devil at school." Kensuke jokingly piped. 'Of course though she's also been absent for the same amount of time…it's possible…' Kensuke mentally barfed. 'Yea, no way. Shinji wouldn't betray us like that, not when he has Misato-san…lucky bastard…'

"Yea, but wait…she's absent to, so he's missing for nothing." Toji stated a bit uncertain. "Maybe he seduced Misato!" Toji shouted as thoughts filled his head. 'That traitor…'

"Come on, even I know that he wouldn't have the balls to do that. And besides unlike you, Shinji doesn't think with this di-." Toji then socked Kensuke in the arm with the mutter of hypocrite.

Just then the elevator doors opened as Toji and Kensuke walked through it, the latter of the group rubbing his sore arm. "Two of the three stooges." A familiar voice chirped from their left.

Turning the two stooges saw the class representative, Hikari Horaki. "Class rep." Toji casually greeted to the slightly red faced girl as Kensuke can only give an in-audible sigh at Toji obviousness.

* * *

The three students made small talk as they moved towards their destination. "So what are you guys doing here?" Hikari, still slightly red faced asked, much to Kensuke's mental amusement and Toji's obliviousness.

"We're here to see Shinji." Toji casually answered her. "He's been out for a few days, and as his best friends we're delivering his homework."

'And with the small hope of getting a peek at his luscious guardian, Misato Katsuragi.' Kensuke and Toji both thought a bit comically perverted, even by their standards.

"You?" Kensuke shot back.

"I'm delivering Asuka's assignments that she's missed in the last three days." The pigtailed girl replies as she gestures to the small stack of papers under her arm that the two hadn't noticed until now.

"Why did you stop?" is what the three teens said as soon as the paused outside of the same door. In complete synch they pressed the small door bell to the apartment, and seconds later they saw the most traumatizing thing that they would ever witness.

"Hello," Shinji and Asuka, both wearing matching clothes, greeted as the door opened.

The look on the three unsuspecting teenagers was truly priceless. They all watched with slacked jaw expressions, well Hikari did. Toji and Kensuke both backed up slightly as they muttered the word 'Traitor' under their ragged breaths.

Once the initial shock wore off Hikari jumped them both with a verbal lashing. "That's disgusting; you two should be ashamed of yourselves!" The pigtailed girl accused as the two Eva pilots made vain attempts to defend themselves.

"It's not what you think!" Asuka and Shinji, unwillingly, replied in perfect union. "Misato said that we both had to live like this!" They explained a bit quicker than they had intended.

Hikari backed up a bit at this new information. "What!" She screeched as she looked at their red faces. "Katsuragi-san is forcing you to live this life of sin!"

"She's not making us live in sin!" The two, in perfect synch, shouted at the class rep.

"Then it's…" Hikari backed up even more until she bumped into Toji. "Of your own free will…Katsuragi-san told you two to live this way, and you're more than fine with it…" Hikari muttered in a tone that almost screeched that she had given up all hope in society while the two Eva pilots sighed in defeat.

"And, that's a rap!" An over cheery voice yelled out. "Wow, I cannot wait to send this to JFHV" (Japan's Funniest Home Videos.)The five teens looked over to see Misato, holding her camera phone, and Rei Ayanami who wore a questioning expression upon her usual stoic face.

Toji sighed as he tried to calm down his beating heart, there has to be a reasonable explanation, the usually dumb jock decided. "Mind telling us what's going on?" He inquired in a tired tone as Shinji and Asuka, the former unwillingly, muttered death threats which would be carried out if she didn't delete the video.

* * *

Once inside the apartment Toji, Kensuke, and even Hikari all give a loud laugh as Misato finished explaining the reason as to why Shinji and Asuka were dressed in such ridiculous clothes, and not to forget the fact as to why they were staying in the same residence.

"So, how's their progress so far?" Hikari innocently inquired.

"Well, see for yourself." The grown woman stated as she gestured to the two Eva pilots who were currently operating a machine that resembled a DDR/Twister game. The Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, and Rei turned their heads to see Shinji and Asuka performing fairly well on the machine.

Two red lights blinked a small glow on both mats, and a split second later Shinji and Asuka in almost complete union slammed their right palms down.

"As you can see, they are cooperating, but something is hindering their synch." Misato confided to the teens. "The highest synch-rate they have obtained so far is around sixty-seven percent, give or take a few." Misato sighed as she reached for a beer.

'This is bad.' Is what Shinji decided. He remembered that in the previous timeline he and Asuka had trouble synching together because she didn't view him as an equal and also the fact that she was too stubborn to admit that she needed him. 'The reason why we're having trouble now, is because she's still ticked at me for telling her to run away.' The Third Child mentally sighs; he has no idea why he told her to run. It should have been obvious as to what the consequences would be. Just then his left hand landed on a blue pad instead of the lit-up green one.

At the same time Asuka's palm landed onto a red pad, instead of green. Asuka give a violent curse as the machine bleeped, announcing their error.

Flashing on the small display was the number sixty-five. Shinji give a tired sigh as Asuka began her usual tongue lashing that he had been putting up with for the past three days. "Damn it, you stupid baka, you messed me up!" The screaming redhead banshee accused.

"On what grounds do you have to accuse me?" Shinji shot back as he stood to his feet.

"You're too slow, and you pressed the wrong button before me, thus causing me to mess up!" Asuka shouted at the male Eva pilot.

"That doesn't even make sense." The brown haired teen replied in disbelief at her logic. 'And she's a college grad?'

"It makes perfect sense to me." Asuka said as she crossed her arms and turned away from him.

"Uh…if I'm going slower than you wouldn't that mean that you would have hit the pad before I did?" Shinji inquires in a somewhat mocking tone.

The redhead just gives a sigh of irritation. "Misato, I'm not sure if this will work. This baka just keeps messing up, and I can't deal with him." Asuka says as she flips her hair.

"Hmm," Misato takes a swig of her beer. "Well, why don't we try a small test," Misato mutters in her beer can. "Rei?"

"Hai." The girl simply replies as the three other teens, whom are not current Eva pilots turn to look at the two.

"Would you like to give it a try?" Misato inquires the blue haired girl.

"Is this an order?" Rei questions as she sets her red orbs on the small machine.

"No, I'm simply asking if you want to give the machine a try." Misato simply replies before she finishes off her beer.

'I've never wanted anything.' Rei thinks to herself. 'But I am…getting annoyed; I think that's the feeling, of watching the Second Child berate Ikari-kun for no logical reason.' Rei stands to her feet. "Sure." The pilot of Unit 0 says as she walks over to the dance mat. 'I…think what I really…desire is to wipe that smug look off.'

"Oooooh, so you're pairing me up with the First Child? Well, Shinji it seems that you're obsolete." Asuka taunts hoping to get a rise out of the Third Child.

"No Asuka." Misato says as she crosses her arms. The violet haired woman's next statement would make the German redhead's eyes widen. "I'm going to see how Shinji performs with Rei."

"What?" Asuka asked in surprise. 'Does that mean that I'm the obsolete one?' Asuka looked down and mentally shook her head at that thought. 'I just got here; it would make sense to make me as a last resort. Since I am the Ace of Nerv.' Of course though Asuka felt a small tug at her heart as she knew that the statement was entirely false.

Shinji glanced at the short haired girl next to him as he prepared to attempt to synch up with Rei. 'Okay, here we go.' And seconds after that thought Shinji and Rei were hitting spots in perfect synch.

Asuka gave a small inaudible gasp as she watched this travesty before her. 'How can this…' She couldn't even finish that thought.

'This is just like last time.' Shinji mentally thought as he chanced a small glance at Rei. 'I feel…alone.' There was one thing that Shinji had learned about working with Rei. At least it was at the beginning. If he and the First Child were working together during his early days as Eva pilot's he always felt cold.

It's not that Shinji didn't trust Rei with his life, because he did. It's just he never fully felt completely comfortable with her. 'Especially after learning the truth…' Shinji could only sigh as he and Rei, in nearly perfect synch finished up. 'I won't allow my father's plans to come; Rei is more than a tool.' Shinji thought as he gave a small mental nod.

Misato gave a long whistle. "Well what do you know, a near perfect score." The twenty-nine year old said as she gestured to the board with the numbers ninety-eight.

'Or so it would seem.' Shinji silently mused to himself as he heard Asuka give a small gasp of shock and surprise. 'It's a ruse, the machine isn't accurate enough.' Shinji hadn't noticed it the last time, but this time since the 'awakening' of his Angelic abilities. The Third Child could easily see that Rei was seconds behind him, and that she was copying his every move. 'How unsurprisingly sly of you, Misato.' Shinji thought to himself a bit playfully.

"That's enough I don't have to stand here and take this crap anymore!" Asuka shouted as she ran out of the room, and the apartment. Shinji could only sigh as he wordlessly followed the distressed redhead.

* * *

He found her at the same local store as last time. She rested on her toes as she browsed through some beverages. Sensing that someone was behind her the German redheaded teen sighed. "…" She honestly didn't know what to say to Shinji. She knew that it was her fault, as much as she hated to admit it. Asuka was holding a grudge over something so trivial, and it could easily cost the lives of her few loved ones, as well as many innocent people.

'What can I say?' Shinji thought to himself as he stared at the backside of the redhead. 'It's not like I can apologize. That would only fuel her anger and frustration even more.' Shinji, in a somewhat bold move, took a step forward and placed a palm on Asuka's shoulder. "I…" Shinji honestly had no idea what to say, he knew that apologizing for his stupid remark during the previous battle would only ensure his demise. But there wasn't much he could do, so he decided to wing it, and hopefully she would get on the road of forgiving him of his stupid mouth. "I want to fight alongside you." He said without really giving it much thought, but it was the truth. He did want to defeat this foe alongside her.

Asuka could only raise an eyebrow at him in amusement and a small amount of surprise. She grabbed the nearest soda next to her, and stood to her feet. "Really?" She asked in a deadpanned tone. "Wouldn't it be much more efficient for you to team up with Wondergirl?" Asuka asked in a fake sweet voice as she just dubbed Rei with the tag, Wondergirl.

"Maybe it would be more efficient." Shinji mumbled as he walked past her and grabbed his own soda. "But, I know that I want to get those bastards back for that defeat." Shinji then spun around and gave her an uncharacteristic smirk. "Don't you?" He questions as he popped open his drink.

'I swear this kid gives me a headache.' Asuka thought to herself as she considered the possibility of Shinji being bi-polar. One second he claims that he wants her to surpass him, the next he orders her as a subordinate, now he wants them to be partners, or whatever. But Asuka did have to give him one thing, he was right. The redheaded German was aching for revenge against those Angels. 'What the hell, why not give it a shot?' With a sigh she opened her own drink and spoke. "To defeating those bastards." She sarcastically said as she gave the universal gesture for a 'cheers.'

Asuka and Shinji clinked their canned drinks together before both took a swig from their individual drinks. After they finished a loud voice rang in their ears before they could speak a word to each other. "Hey are you brats going to pay for those or what?"

The two teens turned to see a clerk scowling at them. Shinji and Asuka sighed as they paid for the drinks and other items they decided to purchase as it would be a long week for the both of them.

* * *

Upon returning to the apartment they saw that Hikari, Kensuke, Misato, Rei, and Toji were all unaccounted for. Upon reading a small note on the fridge Asuka relayed to Shinji that Misato had decided to drop off the other's to their individual houses.

The two Eva pilots were currently sitting out on the balcony of their apartment, the sun, now a dull orange hue as it slowly sat. 'This is nice.' Shinji thought to himself as he gazed at the orange sun. '!' Just then he heard a shout and turned left to see a soda can coming towards him at full speed. With quick reflexes he caught it in his left hand.

"I'd guess that you're okay with regular." Asuka said as she popped open her soda, she could only give a mental groan before taking a drink. "Today…I was humiliated. By Rei and Misato, I will not be defeated, together we will take down those Angels then we have every right to laugh in their faces."

"Laugh in their faces?" Shinji asked disbelieving as to what he was hearing while he reached for one of the wrapped sandwiches from the store. "Isn't that a bit, I don't know, below our level?" Shinji sarcastically asked as he unwrapped his snack and took a bite.

"No it is not. They humiliated me, and that will not go unpunished! I have my pride, and for them to step all over it is a slap to the face." Asuka says confidently as she takes a swig from her drink. "Without my pride I'm nothing." Asuka muttered to herself despite Shinji hearing her words.

The Third Child could only lean back on the bench he sat on and marvel at the sunset. 'If only everyday had been like this moment.' Shinji knew that this was a very clam moment between them. One that he had experienced in the previous timeline, as it was one of the few times that he and Asuka weren't annoyed or mad at each other, a time where they coexisted in harmony.

'This is what I want. This is what I want to fight for, clam moments like this. No war, no Eva, no fighting, just peace.' Shinji decided as he glanced at Asuka who was now also watching the sun. 'What I want…' Shinji smiled at the beautiful girl, he would probably never forgive himself for what he had previously done to her or any other people, but he would fix his mistakes and move forward. 'I will not be defeated by them again. Asuka and I will defeat the two of you.' Shinji thought to himself as he remembered the seventh Angel.

The next few days Shinji and Asuka did everything together, be it from eating breakfast, to going to the bathroom (where Shinji had to stand outside while Asuka did her business at vice-versa), they even slept in the same room with Misato in-between them as to prevent, as she had said 'Any hanky panky' To which Asuka attempted the murder of Misato Katsuragi, only to fail.

* * *

Before the two Eva pilots knew it, the night before the second round with the 7th Angel arrived. They had both achieved a synch of 100 that day. They were ready, in perfect synch.

Shinji sighed as he closed his book he was reading. Today was a fairly boring day; in fact the whole week after the conversation on the balcony had been boring. It was almost as if someone had pressed a big giant repeat button. For the rest of the week was eerily similar to the first time he had lived it. From what he did on a daily basis, to what he ate for breakfast, even his trips to the restroom had been around the same time as the previous timeline. (Not that he was memorizing the exact time.)

Just then he heard a door opened, glancing to his side Shinji saw Asuka, towel drying her hair, walk out of the bathroom. "Where's Misato?" She questions as she glances at the Third Child.

'Right on time.' Shinji thought to himself before answering. "Work." Was his simple answer and his vain attempt at trying to break free of this scripted week. "She won't be back until it's time to pick us up tomorrow." Shinji states as he rose to his feet and walked over to his futon.

"So, we're all alone." Asuka said in a slightly, to Shinji's ears, seductive voice. Turning he saw that she was dressed in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of short shorts.

"Forgoing the A10 Clips," Shinji commented as he reached for his music player.

Not verbally responding to Shinji's observation Asuka lifted her rolled up futon up and walked away to the room next to their current one. Dropping the futon she closed the door behind her with her foot, and dropped down on her futon.

'A man can dream.' Shinji thought to himself as he felt a small mental shiver from her earlier statement about the two of them being alone. 'A man can dream.'

Almost as if reading his thoughts the door slides back open and Shinji can easily see Asuka's cleavage as she glares at him. "This is the impenetrable wall of Jericho. Take a step over this wall, and you're a dead man. Not it's time for children to go to bed, night!" She exclaims before slamming the wall of Jericho shut.

Shinji stared at the door for a few minutes before he sighed. "Didn't the wall of Jericho come down?" Asuka's rebuttal to his sarcastic words was the two words Shut and up.

* * *

'How is it that I always find myself staring trouble in the face?' Shinji wondered as he stared at the sleeping and peaceful face of Asuka Langley Soryu. The same exact thing that had occurred in the previous timeline had happened here. Asuka had decided to 'sleepwalk' and just drop into his futon, like in all of the dreams of Shinji's male classmates.

He watched her shift slightly in her sleep, as to revert his gaze from where it was resting. Shinji mentally whacked himself in the head for making the same perverted mistake as he did last time, he had been staring. Shinji knew what he should do, the honorable thing to do would be to get up like last time, and move to a different area. 'But…' Shinji found something different with this scene. For one, he wouldn't be able to get up if he wanted to, as her arm was keeping him in place.

When she had moved to his futon, the Third Child had his eyes closed, so he had not been able to see that she had allowed her steps to be more deliberate. His eyes had nearly bulged out of their sockets when he felt her drop down on his futon and wrap an arm around his body. So now here he was, sharing a futon with the most beautiful girl of Tokyo-3, and he was in a powerful vice-grip and like a trapped animal he was unable to get away. 'Not that I would really want to, but I value my life.' Shinji thought to himself for he feared her reaction upon waking up.

"Asuka?" He suddenly said in hopes to wake her up and convince her that one; this was not his doing, and two, to return to her futon.

"Kaji…" The redhead muttered sleepily unknowing the small sharp painful jab that had caused in Shinji's chest.

"Never mind." He muttered quietly as he shifted slightly in her grasp. Sighing he closed his eyes, as he knew that he kind of deserved that small jab. "Good night, Asuka." He muttered quietly as he surrendered to fate, and to oblivion. But before he completely blacked out he could have sworn that he had heard a small:

"Good night, baka-Shinji."

* * *

Elsewhere in a Nerv elevator Misato struggled to escape the strong grasp of her former lover Ryoji Kaji. The young woman gave a gasp as Kaji pushed her up against the elevator wall; this was the opportune moment for the unshaven man to shove his tongue into her mouth as the violet haired woman half-heartedly continued to fight him. 'Almost there.' She mentally noted the elevator that was moving too slow and too fast for her. Misato wanted it to speed up, but at the same time she hoped it to freeze.

About a second later the elevator opened and Misato pushed Kaji away from her. "I mean it, Kaji!" Misato yelled as she backed out of the confined space all the while rubbing her mouth. "I told you years ago, it's over. There is nothing between us, give it up." She ordered as she began fixing up her appearance.

"Oh, but a second ago you were enjoying yourself." Ryoji casually states while picking up a few random papers that Misato had dropped when he had surprised her. "You're actions or you're words? Which should I trust?" Kaji charismatically asked as he handed the papers to Misato.

Misato glared as she wordlessly grabbed the papers and backed away from him in case he decided to go in for round two. 'Cocky bastard.' She thought to herself as she watched Kaji perform a mock bow before the elevator doors closed.

* * *

"Are you ready for this?" Asuka inquired to Shinji who was on the other side of the changing room.

"Yea I am. You?" Shinji answered back and questioned.

Asuka gave a confident laugh. "I was born ready." She said as she pressed the button on her plug suit, thus making it act as a second skin. "Let's do this, Shinji." Asuka said as she left the changing room.

"Right." Shinji muttered as he to left the room.

* * *

"Target has broken past the final defense line at Gora." A voice sounded through Nerv.

"Here it comes!" Misato announced to the two Eva pilots. "Deploy AT-Fields as soon as the music begins, then stick to the operation." The violet haired woman calmly ordered. "Got it?"

"Roger!" The two stated in synch.

"The target has entered the mounts!"

"Full power, max speed from the beginning, got it, Third?" Asuka inquired.

"No problem this will end in just over sixty seconds." Shinji confidently says without missing a beat.

"Detach external power cables." Misato commanded, at that the power cables came on done on both Evas, thus starting the clock. "Eva launch!" She shouted.

* * *

To Shinji the battle was eerily similar to the first one. Too similar in fact, he wasn't surprised when he and Asuka, in perfect synch defeated the two twin Angels just like last time, and he sure as hell wasn't surprised to find her Eva right on top of his.

Shinji sighed as he leaned back into his seat. 'This is a nice day.' He mentally comments as he looks up at the blue sky. With another sigh he opens the hatch to his plug and climbs out.

Once outside he was able to breathe in the fresh air, much better than in-haling LCL all the time.

*Ring*

*Ring*

"You better pick that up, before she gets mad." A clam voice says from besides Shinji. Shinji looked through his peripherals to see Kaworu standing behind him.

'Yea I probably should.' Shinji could only grimace as he made to grab the phone. 'Well, if I'm going to die by her hand, I better have some fun beforehand.'

Before the person on the other side could even utter a word Shinji had already cut them off. "Tokyo-3 city morgue, you stab 'em, we slab 'em." Shinji said into the Eva's phone.

Asuka blinked as she looked at the phone, but then she remembered why she had even called. "You dumbass!" She shouted into the phone as a holograph of herself appeared on Shinji's side. "What gave you the idea that you could land on my Unit-2!" She snarled at the misfortunate boy.

"When you crawled into my futon last night." Shinji smirked. Forget that, this poor misfortunate boy is truly an idiot.

"You're a dead man." Kaworu grimly said with a smile from behind the male Eva pilot. "I'd suggest you run." Kaworu wisely said to his dumbass of a friend.

"And by the way, if you took the time to look you would see that you're Eva is in fact on top of mine." Shinji continued to dig his grave further as he said something else that would ensure his swift and pain filled demise. "I'd prefer to be on top of the women, but just for you I'll make an exception." Shinji smirked at the now wide eyed and red faced Asuka.

"You god damned pervert!" Asuka screeched into her phone. "Third Child you better start sleeping with your eyes open! Because you don't want to know what I'll do to you!"

"Oh, I think I do." Shinji, uncharacteristically, said in an excided manner.

"It was nice knowing you Shinji." Kaworu said as he faded away.

"Those kids are embarrassing us again." The vice-commander says with a sigh.

Misato could only laugh at this comical display, at the same time Kaji was fighting to keep in his snickers. And Ritsuko could only sigh at the argument, but she did have to wonder. 'And again he shows more odd signs.' The blonde doctor had to wonder if Shinji had somehow obtained Multiple Personality Disorder.

Shinji smiled as Asuka continued to lay out many death threats, some of which were in languages he didn't even know. 'But.' He knew that she didn't mean any of them. Sure he might gain quite the verbal lashing and maybe even a shot to chops, but he could tell that Asuka wasn't going to kill him. 'Because she's smiling while saying them.' And it wasn't a smile that carried malicious intentions. 'All is right with the world, Asuka is mad at me.' Shinji thought sarcastically.

* * *

**And there's the next chapter, I hope you enjoyed this one. I worked hard on it. BTW I have just turned seventeen two days ago, yay! Anyway if you all want to get me a B-day present you could review…or send a PS3 over here…you know whatever works. XD**


	11. Shopping trips suck

**Damn it's been so long since I uploaded for this story. I am so sorry that it's been so long since my last update. There isn't really any good excuse I can give except for lack of motivation for this story, I mean I didn't really have writers block, I just couldn't find a reason to do this story, or the excitement. But after reading a review today I said "Okay I need to get this chapter finished." And here we are. **

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Eleven: Shopping trips suck

Blue eyes slowly fluttered open as the day began to turn light. "What time is it?" Asuka mumbled in into her soft pillow as she got out of her bed and stretched. Her blue orbs narrowed in contempt as she remembered her verbal spar with Shinji just the other day after their triumph over the seventh Angel.

Asuka smiled as she thought of how well she and Shinji had taken that Angel down. It was nice to have a friend; someone who she was certain would have her back in a tough fight. And so far the last two battles had indicated that he had her back. 'Even if the little pervert did land on my Eva.' She thought with a small scowl which slowly turned into a small half smile. She knew why Shinji's Eva had landed on her red Eva. The little baka had been trying to protect her from the resulting explosion. "But that still doesn't give him the right to make such lewd comments." The redheaded German muttered as she rolled onto her back. 'How can I get him back?' She asked herself as she scratched her head.

Shrugging she decided that she would wing it. 'Perhaps I can find a way to embarrass him at school.' Asuka thought with a mental chuckle before she realized that today was a Saturday. 'Crap!' The blue eyed redhead swore. Nodding to herself she decided that perhaps a rude awaking was the best way to start the day. "Oh, Shinji." She said in a fake sweet voice as her bare feet landed on the hard floor outside of her room.

The door to Shinji's lovely sweet opened up. after a second of waiting to see if the Third Child had aroused from his sleep Asuka tip toed into the room. As Asuka walked in she couldn't help but roll her eyes at just how bland Shinji's room was. "You'd think that even a pervert like him would have a few pictures or something up." She muttered under her breath as she passed Shinji's small desk, looking over at Shinji's bed she smirked as she prepared to head over there and give him a very rude awakening.

But before she could reach her target something caught her eye. Shinji's closet was wide open and she couldn't help but part her lips in disdain and disapproval as she saw nothing but white button-up shirts and navy colored pants. 'School uniforms…' That was almost all he had in his wardrobe save for a few outfits which showed Shinji's lack of fashion sense. With a sigh Asuka backed away as she actually had an idea of how she could get back at the Third Child for his performance AND make her day even better.

* * *

About an hour later Shinji awoke from his slumber unaware of Asuka's early visit. As he walked into the kitchen to see Asuka already showered and prepared for the day he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. The Third Child mentally sighed as he tried to push down the feeling of dread. 'She still has yet to get revenge for the comments I made the other day.' Shinji thought to himself as he went to the fridge and grabbed a tea. 'This might be the day, Asuka never goes without revenge, it's against her nature.'

And how right he was. "I'm taking you shopping, Third Child!" Asuka says with a bright smile as male Eva pilot took a seat at the breakfast table.

Shinji blinked at that statement. 'I' hate when I'm right.' The male Eva pilot muttered in thought. "Wanna run that by me again?" He questions as he takes a sip of his tea. "I thought I heard something crazy."The Third Child said as calmly as possible.

Asuka shakes her head. "It's not crazy, Shinji. You need more clothes! How can you live with wearing school uniforms all of the time? I mean come on, it's Saturday and you're wearing you're school uniform today! The hell is that?" The German girl inquires with a snort as she points at the boy.

Shinji sighed as he tried to come up with an argument for this. From what he remembers of the original timeline this conversation never took place. Asuka had never really tried to get him to go shopping, why now? 'Duh, apparently with us now having some sort of semblance of a healthy friendship that requires me to suffer at her hands of a shopping trip.' Shinji gave a small groan at that thought, though he was dreading this Shinji would admit that he'd rather go on a shopping trip than having the destructive relationship they had before . "Why me?" He whispered to himself as he sat his head on the table.

"You know Shinji, I think she's right." A scantily dressed Misato says as she walks into the kitchen. "You would look better if you bought some more clothes. And it's not like you don't have money. Nerv pays you guys to pilot the Eva's, and they pay generously."

Shinji sighs as he knows he cannot deny that claim. They did get paid well for their services. "Crap," Shinji says as he leans forward. "I'm not going to get out of this, am I?" The Third Child questions with a weary sigh.

The redheaded devil gave a victorious smirk at Shinji's nonverbal surrender. "You can't escape, Third Child. Either you can go willingly or I can hog tie you and drag you're sorry ass myself," Asuka half seriously said as she stood up.

Misato laughs as she grabs a beer from the fridge. "We'll go after we eat breakfast."To which Shinji sighed as he would be making breakfast before his doom.

* * *

After breakfast the three headed to a nearby store to do some cloth shopping for Shinji. All of this was of course against his will. The young teen didn't wish to go cloths shopping, he had other things he could be doing like…okay, maybe he didn't have any plans for the day besides continuing his training on how to utilize his Angelic abilities.

"This is stupid." Shinji quietly says as he and the two other females enter the mall. "Why can't I just stay home? If you two want to go on a shopping trip that's fine, but why must I be here?"

"Because baka-Shinji, you can't just keep wearing you're school uniform everywhere. It's not cool." Asuka says as she looks around the store. "Let's see, the men's department should be…"

"But I don't care about looking cool." Shinji says with a sigh.

"It's not up for discussion, we're already here." Misato says as she starts inching away from the group. "I'm just going to go do some of my own shopping!" She says as she breaks into a small sprint in a different direction. "See you two lovebirds in a few hours!" She yells back to the two embarrassed teens.

'How could she leave me alone to die?' Shinji wondered to himself as Asuka's hand clutched onto his wrist and started pulling him in another direction. 'I'm a dead man! Kaworu if you can hear me help me!'

After receiving directions for a store employ they found themselves in the males department with Asuka going through a series of clothes while Shinji nervously watched from behind her. "Let's see…" Asuka mutters as she browses through a selection of clothing. "You'll need shorts, pants, shirts, something you can wear for a nice occasion like a party." Asuka says as she goes through a rack of clothes.

"Can't I at least be allowed to pick my own clothing?" Shinji pipes in hoping to at least do some damage control on the makeover of his wardrobe.

Asuka pauses and turns to him with a scowl. "Absolutely not! You have crappy taste, and know nothing about fashion!" The redhead shouts out a little louder than intended.

Shinji raised an eyebrow at her as she continued to browse. "Like you do?" Shinji sarcastically asked as he looked around the store. 'Not many people here, less witnesses to my possible demise.'

Asuka looked back at the Third Child with a sigh. "I did take a fashion class back in college." The redheaded girl says to Shinji's genuine surprise. "I think I know what I'm talking about," Asuka says as Shinji decides to resign himself to his fate.

"Alright Asuka." Shinji grumbles reluctantly as he decides that he might as well get it over with. "Lead the way."

"Gladly." The redheaded German said as she grabbed a random selection of clothes. "Now take these to the changing room and try them on while I go look for other clothes."

"You're not even going to ask what my size is?" Shinji inquires as she handed him a pile of clothes.

Asuka shakes her head as she points to the changing rooms. "I already know you're plug suit size, I'm sure that is good enough." Shinji sighed knowing that he would probably never win against her.

"I give up." He muttered as he walked into the changing room to try on the outfits.

Asuka smiled as she watched his retreating form. "See Shinji! You're learning; remember the most important thing is that I always win."The redhead said in a arrogant tone before she let out a laugh.

* * *

Shinji opted to remain silent as he grabbed a random shirt that had some faded Kanji written on it, and decided that he would try this shirt first. "This is stupid." The Third Child muttered as he unbuttoned his shirt and placed on the new T-shirt. Quickly he grabbed a pair of jeans while taking off his shoes. Unbuttoning and unzipping his pants he quickly placed the jeans on. 'They're a little loose.' Shinji thought to himself as he looked at the mirror.

"How you doing in there, baka-Shinji?" Shinji heard his redheaded friend call out from the other side.

"Alright." Shinji replied as he continued to look in the mirror. 'The pants are a little loose, I'll need to wear a belt with these or fear of being pants by gravity.' Shinji mentally said as he started taking off the jeans. "I'm doing fine, I've checked half of the clothes and they all fit so far." Shinji informed his friend. "I think we're done, I can go home now. Right?" The Third Child asked with hope etched in his voice.

"Not a chance Shinji." Oh he could just FEEL her smirk through the door. "Here," She casually said as a pair of shorts came to the other side. "Try these swimming trunks on."

Shinji stared at the trunks for a second before looking at the door to where Asuka was still standing. Why me? He couldn't help but wonder, and then the answer came as quickly as he asked. 'Oh yeah, because I'm an idiot.' He mentally berated himself. "Would you believe me if I told you I couldn't swim?" Shinji said as he looked at the door.

After a second of stunned silence Asuka gave a laugh. "Yeah right!" She called back. "Considering that stunt you pullednon that damn rust bucket of a ship I'd be surprised if you couldn't win an medal at the Olympics. Now chop, chop." She ordered as Shinji started getting changed.

* * *

"Now let's see you how you look." Asuka said once Shinji announced that he was finished changing and that the trunks fit perfectly.

"No way!" Shinji responded with a small blush. "Are you sure that you aren't the pervert here?" Shinji inquired to which Asuka pounded her fist onto the door. "Alright, alright." He said as she continued to away at his door. He opened the door just in time to see Asuka fall in on him.

Asuka released a gasp as she finally realized her surroundings; she was laying on top of Shinji who only wore a pair of swimming trunks, and nothing else. Her body couldn't help but feel warm as she felt his arms around her. She knew that he only had his arms around her to try and keep her from getting hurt when they fell, but still she would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy being held. As she moved to quickly get up her arm slipped and her lips crashed right on Shinji's

Shinji gasped at that which allowed Asuka's tongue access to his mouth. He was surprised at this turn of events, as was Asuka. This had been completely accidental, but something so clichéd had happened. 'So here they were two hormonal teenagers, alone in a room, trapped in lip lock. 'What the hell is this some sort of freaking manga!' Asuka couldn't help but questioned as she broke the lip lock and slowly rose to her feet.

As Shinji also got up he couldn't look at the red haired girl. His face at the moment was matching her hair color, he hadn't expected something so, so…he didn't even know what to think. Shinji knew that his feelings for Asuka went far beyond friendship. He might even say that he loved her more than anything. though when he thought about it Shinji knew that their relationship was far more complex than just simple love, whatever it was, Shinji knew that the redhead who was now looking at him, he knew that he would do anything to keep her safe.

"That never happened." Asuka whispered in a breathless voice because apparently Shinji had stolen hers. "Okay Third Child. That accidental lip lock that just happened, doesn't exist, I never kissed you. You never kissed me, no one knows about this. Let's just put this behind us and forget." Asuka said as she turned away from him. 'Even if it was my first kiss.' After a second the redhead heard Shinji mutter an agreement.

Shinji felt a small bit of pain at the rejection, basically what she was telling him to do was to deny the feelings that he knows that he felt. On one hand Shinji was a little bit happy about that, he knew that despite wanting to be with the redhead he knew that he wasn't ready for that. At least not now. 'Well at least she isn't crying about how she needs to wash her mouth out.' Shinji thought with a mental chuckle. "Uh…" Trying to play it somewhat cool Shinji continued as the blush on his face increased which mirrored hers. "I think we should get this stuff rung up." he meekly suggested. Asuka nodded as she left the room and allowed Shinji the chance to get changed back into his regular clothes.

* * *

After buying Shinji's clothes they went to the woman's department. While Shinji carried the bags of course, Asuka would pick out outfits, and once she had gotten over her initial embarrassment from earlier she would pose in them for Shinji who would be red faced at each outfit as they, for the most part, left little to the imagination.

Though despite her trying on tons of different outfits, some of which she found to be quite cute, she only picked up one or two dresses and red and white striped bikini. "Let's go find the drunk." Asuka quietly suggested to Shinji as they exited the store.

The two quickly found her and decided to get something to eat. As they walked into a small dinner they were escorted to a booth. Shinji slid the bags on one side and took a seat with Asuka right next to him of course. He looked away as he remembered earlier.

Shinji quickly pushed away the memory of his second kiss away as Misato started asking questions. "So what happened today?" The violet haired woman asked the two who both blushed slightly.

The red haired and red faced Asuka snorted. "Nothing perverted happened you pervert." She murmured.

"Oooooh." Misato's face broke into a grin. "I never did ask if something perverted happened. Me thinks the lady doth protest too much." The violet haired woman said with a cat like grin.

"Me thinks the lady doth speak to much." Asuka mumbled in frustration at the possibility of Misato finding out about earlier and never letting her live it down. "And if she continues to speak the lady will lose her tongue." Asuka muttered out in a deadly voice hoping to sound intimidating.

Misato just retained her grin and shifted her gaze to Shinji. "So Shinji what happened today?" Asuka's head whipped the Third Child, from her look Shinji was sure that she was offering a painful death if he spilled the beans.

"Nothing, nothing at all." Shinji answered as casually as possible.

"Come on you two!" Misato whined like a child. "I know something happened. It's written on your faces, just tell me and don't spare the dirty deeds." She pleaded .For the next number of hours Misato would continue to pester Shinji and Asuka about what happened only to receive no results.

* * *

A number of hours later the children and Misato found themselves at home. "Finally." Shinji muttered as he reached the top of the stairs. "Why oh why did the elevator have to be broken today?" He cried out as he gently placed the bags down and messaged his sore hands.

"Quite you're complaining." Asuka ordered as she also reached the top. Ignoring his small glare the redhead smirked as she reached the door, grabbing her keys she placed them in the lock and unlocked the door. 'Kinda feels good to be back after the long day.' The redhead mused to herself. The group of three had been out since morning and were only getting back near the evening.

"Geeze at least one of you could have offered to carry a bag or two." Shinji muttered under his breath as he followed Asuka. "Shopping trips suck." He whispered under his breath.

Misato appeared next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Shinji, Shinji, Shinji. You need to learn that it's the man's job to carry the bags when he is on a date with a woman."

Asuka's left eye twitched slightly as she remembered the accidental kiss from earlier. "It wasn't a date." Asuka quietly said as she headed to the couch.

"You did ask Shinji to go shopping, you two were alone for an extended amount of time, and you made him carry the bags." Misato pointed out as she headed to the kitchen. "Sounds like a date to me." The violet haired woman said as she exited the living room.

'Not to mention that I kissed him.' Asuka muttered sarcastically in her mind. "Shut up." Asuka mumbled while turning on the TV.

"I'll just take your bags to your room." Shinji announced as he headed to the hallway. He didn't hear Asuka's grunt of acknowledgement as he left the room to drop the bags off.

Sighing to herself Asuka leaned back in her seat. 'Why did I want to take Shinji shopping again?' She mused to herself as she remembered this morning. 'Of course, I wanted to humiliate him, instead though we did go on a date.' She admitted to herself with the roll of her eyes. 'Didn't get the chance to humiliate him, if anything we just had a little bit of fun today. Maybe we should have stopped by the arcade, we had the time. That would have been fun. '

Just then Asuka slapped her forehead. 'Jesus Christ, why the hell am I even thinking that?' Shaking her head she sighed as she decided to just watch the flashing screen in front of her.

* * *

"haaa…" Shinji sighed as he came out of the bathroom. 'Nothing like a warm shower.' He muttered in thought as he ran a hand through his sill damp hair.

"I swear you take too long." Asuka muttered as she passed him into the bathroom. "How long does it take a man to take a shower and get the hell out?" Shinji just rolled his eyes as chalked it up to her being frustrated with something else and taking it out on him as usual deciding that he didn't want to invoke her rage he headed to his room. "Whatever." She muttered as she closed the door and turned around.

Once she was undressed and ready to jump into the tub Asuka gave a cry of shock as she felt gravity shift around her. When she had stepped forward to the tub her foot had landed in a puddle of water, which caused her to slip. 'Shit!' She screamed in thought as her scream of pain erupted throughout the whole apartment building.

When Shinji heard her scream he quickly jumped up and rushed to the bathroom. For once Asuka would be thankful that their home had no locks, and this would be the only time she would ever allow her only male friend to see her naked. "Asuka!" He shouted when he saw the naked redhead on the floor withering in pain. "Misato!" He shouted for the violet haired guardian. "Call an ambulance!" The male Eva pilot ordered as he rushed to the redhead to make sure she was okay.

* * *

**Sorry that it took so long, but here's the eleventh chapter of my story. I am so sorry for the long wait; I just hope that this makes up for it. Anyway hopefully the wait for the next chapter won't be as long, but I can't make any promises as I just literally finished this like ten minutes ago. Sorry that I was kind of rushing at the end. I just wanted to finally finish this chapter. **


	12. Shinji's favorite subject

**Wow has it really been over six months since my last update? Damn…I really don't know what to say. I wish I could come up with a good excuse but I can't. This shouldn't have sat on the backburner for as long as it did. Anyway as you can all see I am not dead yet. I have been writing this chapter little by little, and finally ta-da, it's finished! Now something I want to quickly address in this chapter. To be honest I kinda rushed a bit here and there, and…well to be frank I don't much care for this chapter. I wish I could do better, but maybe another time (after I've finished this story) I'll go back and revise a few things.**

**To Mr. A I am so happy with your review, really I am. It was your very long review which motivated me to finish up this chapter. Because I am not finished with this story, not by a long shot. And yes I know what you mean by there not being that many good Evangelion fanfics anymore, believe me I've noticed. There aren't many stories like Spawn of Adam or Scar Tissue anymore and it saddens me that the latter of those hasn't been updated in forever. Yes I do have many unfinished stories, a fact that greatly shames me. A lot of those stories will probably go untouched forever, but not this one. I can't say when but Evangelion Re-Loaded will be complete…eventually. The reason why I haven't updated in so long is simply because of many reasons, life, drama, writers block, and lack of motivation. Anyway enough of my babbling (If you had an account I would have just messaged you, but I had to do it here,) Anyway here is the long awaited chapter twelve. **

* * *

Evangelion Re-Loaded

Chapter Twelve: Shinji's favorite subject

_"Why did you stop?" The three teens said as soon as the paused outside of the same door. In complete synch they pressed the small door bell to the apartment, and seconds later they saw the most traumatizing thing that they would ever witness._

_"Hello," Shinji and Asuka, both wearing matching clothes save for the fact that Asuka wore pink, while Shinji was garbed in blue, greeted as the door opened._

_The look on the three unsuspecting teenagers was truly priceless. They all watched with slacked jaw expressions, well Hikari did. Toji and Kensuke both backed up slightly as they muttered the word 'Traitor' under their ragged breaths._

_Once the initial shock wore off Hikari jumped them both with a verbal lashing. "That's disgusting; you two should be ashamed of yourselves!" The pigtailed girl accused as the two Eva pilots made vain attempts to defend themselves._

_"It's not what you think!" Asuka and Shinji, unwillingly, replied in perfect union. "Misato said that we both had to live like this!" They explained a bit quicker than they had intended._

_Hikari backed up a bit at this new information. "What!" She screeched as she looked at their red faces. "Katsuragi-san is forcing you to live this life of sin!"_

_Asuka, and even Shinji looked scandalized at such a ridiculous notion. "She's not making us live in sin!" The two, in perfect synch, shouted at the class rep._

_"Then it's…" Hikari backed up even more until she bumped into Toji. "Of your own free will…Katsuragi-san told you two to live this way, and you're more than fine with it…" Hikari muttered in a tone that almost screeched that she had given up all hope in society while the two Eva pilots sighed in defeat._

_"And, that's a rap!" An over cheery voice yelled out. _

The screen blackened. "And that clip was sent in my Katsuragi Misato of Tokyo-3. Stay tuned for these commercials." The voice of some random man said from the TV in the living room of the Katsuragi/Ikari/Soryu residence.

Misato spat her beer out as she re-watched the clip that she herself had taken nearly a month ago. "Hahaha!" She busted out laughing, beer flying everywhere.

The redheaded girl currently seated on the couch glared at Misato, whose laughs had died down to occasional giggles. "I swear I'm going to kill you for actually sending in that video." Asuka promised as she finished her soda. Wiping her mouth Asuka placed the empty can on the nearby table.

Misato turned to Asuka with a grin on her face, with a slight chuckle she decided to tease the red head a bit. "Oh I'm so scared." She said in a mock baby voice. "What are you going to do to me?"Misato questioned in an innocent tone.

Asuka clenched her jaw as she gave a hateful glare at her guardian. "Once my leg heals," The pilot of Eva Unit 2 said as she pointed to her leg, which was currently wrapped in a cast. "I'm going to kick you so hard you're grandchildren will feel it." Sighing the red head turned to the kitchen to see Shinji preparing dinner before she turned back to the TV that was showing some commercial.

Misato's face broke into a grin. "Oh so yours and Shinji's children will feel my pain?" The violet haired woman asked with a slight grin. "I feel so loved." Misato said before taking another gulp of her beer. At Asuka's red face at the implications of her accusing she laughed into her can. From the kitchen Shinji stifled a laugh as his face took a lightly red hue.

Asuka gritted her teeth as she promised to make Misato's death slow and painful. Sighing she turned to the kitchen. "Shinji bring me another soda before I get arrested for murder!" She was not very happy with Misato's teasing. When she received no reply she turned back to the kitchen to see that the light was on but she couldn't hear anything that indicated that Shinji was in there. "Shinji?" She called out.

"I heard you." Shinji called from the kitchen. "I'm just swamped here. Both of you want dinner now you want me to grab you a soda, I can only do one thing at a time." Shinji complained as he appeared in the living room soda in hand. He paused as he took notice of the scene in the living room.

Misato was situated on one end of the sofa, far away from the infuriated red head who was on the other end with her casted leg propped up on a pillow. "And also I thought someone promised to do the laundry?" Shinji said as his eyes drifted to Misato who made it a point to look at anywhere except for at Shinji. 'Should have known better.' The only male Eva pilot thought to himself with a sigh of defeat.

Asuka snorted at the young boy who claimed to be swamped. "Well that's your problem." Asuka mumbled as Shinji handed her the soda. "It's your fault that I broke my leg. You should consider yourself lucky that it won't take long to heal. And once it's healed I'll be sure to give you a swift kick in the ass." Asuka promised as she opened her soda.

The Third Child groaned as he rolled his eyes. "Geeze how many times do I need to apologize for you to forgive me?" Shinji asked as he scratched his head. This was ridiculous to him, sure Asuka broke her leg because of the water he had left on the floor, but did she really need to be so difficult? 'Duh, it's Asuka.' Shinji thought as a small grin made it's way to his face.

Asuka noted his grin. "What's with that stupid grin?" Asuka muttered as Shinji came out of his thoughts. "Don't tell me you're remembering that incident?" She scowled as Shinji gave a slight chuckle at how predictable she was. 'The fricken pervert probably is!' Her eye twitched slightly. "Remember if I ever hear the words "Shinji saw Asuka/ the Red Devil naked" Anywhere around the school I will castrate you with my bare hands." The scariest part for Shinji was that he believed every word she just said.

"Geeze, I've said I was sorry, I've even been doing even more for you than I usually do." Shinji muttered as he moved to reenter the kitchen but stopped as if he just thought of something. Turning back he gave Asuka a slight glare. "By the way stop telling people of how I pushed you down the stairs. I'm getting sick of my classmates thinking that I would actually hurt you on purpose." Shinji said with a glare. 'I would never hurt her on purpose.' Shinji thought to himself as he remembered all of the times he had hurt her in the old timeline. He never wanted to be the cause of her pain, ever again.

Asuka, unaware of the seriousness of his words, scoffed at his whiny voice. "I can't just tell people I slipped in the bathroom don't you know how un-cool that is? Besides it is your fault that I have to wear this stupid cast."Asuka pointed out as she gestured to the white cast on her leg. Looking at it one would see that it had crude drawings of hearts, and get well sentiments on it. The only people who had signed were those who hoped to gain something from the foreigner Eva pilot. Not counting Shinji and Hikari who were genuine friends of hers, hell even Toji and Kensuke had signed the cast after some convincing on Shinji's part.

While this exchange was going on Misato was laughing her ass off at this display. It was so comical, it was funny to watch the future bride and groom argue, it was so Shinji and Asuka. Misato giggled as she mentally hummed "Here comes the bride," in her head. 'Man I should get my camera and send this to JFHV.' Misato thought with a smirk as she hummed the.

"Oh stop complaining!" Asuka ordered her temporary (More like eternal) servant. "Because of you I can't go scuba diving or swimming on the trip to Okinawa." Asuka whined as she stuck her tongue out at Shinji who could only roll his eyes in response.

Shinji was barely able to repress the sigh he felt coming on. 'It wouldn't matter Asuka.' Shinji thought to himself as he glanced at his violet haired guardian.

Finishing off her beer Misato choose that time to cut in. The smile left her face as she turned to face her two charges. "Actually…" The Technical Operations Director started out with a serious tone.

* * *

The day of the Okinawa trip was a bright warm sunny day. Asuka had been waiting for this day ever since her arrival to Tokyo-3. The red haired Eva pilot had even purchased a brand new, and slightly skimpy, swim suit for just the occasion."This sucks." Asuka said from her seat next to Shinji who was diligently working through his homework. Of course though, things don't always go as planned. "Not only can I not go on the trip but I can't even go swimming in Nerv's pool. I hope you're happy Third Child." Asuka said as she glared at the cast on her right leg.

Shinji paused in his work to glance at his red haired friend. She was staring at him expectantly, as though she wanted an admission of wrong doing or some sort of apology. "I'm not even going to apologize because I know that will only fuel you're anger." Shinji said before casually slipping a glass of water.

Asuka groaned as she un-zipped up the white hoody that covered her striped bikini. 'I bought this hoping to use it for the trip, but now I can't. Thanks a lot Baka-Shinji.' Asuka thought with a small pout as she leaned forward into her palm. Sighing she attempted to read the problems on her computer screen. Thanks to Shinji tutoring her in Kanji she had gotten slightly better at recognizing the symbols, but that didn't mean that she still wasn't struggling.

Shinji smiled slightly as he watched Asuka's light blue eyes go back and forth as she read the problems on her screen. Every now and then he'd see her forehead scrunch up in thought as she came to a word she was unsure of. He kinda found it cute, of course though he didn't speak these thoughts. As he continued looking at her he couldn't help how his eyes were slowly starting to descend, he recognized the red striped bikini she had chosen to wear today. His face became slightly pink as he remembered her lesson in thermal expansion.

_He remembered that she was very close to him, almost touching; in fact he could just barely feel her red hair touching his shoulder before she stood back up. "If I were to say, warm my breasts up, what do you think would happen?"She had asked him while cupping her chest._

Shinji shook his head slightly as he tried to push those thoughts away. "How far have you gotten?" Shinji asked as he resumed answering questions. 'I have to remember to do something special for Asuka, considering it was her who tutored me in thermal expansion.' Shinji thought to himself as he began blazing through the questions. 'Wish all my teachers were like her…' Just then Shinji actually imagined Asuka as a school teacher. Of course though being a teenage boy, the image became slightly different than one would expect.

* * *

_A slightly older version of Asuka appeared in his mind, her bust was slightly bigger than the current present, and her hair was pulled back. She was dressed in classy clothes that one would expect a sexy teacher to wear. And for some reason she was wearing glasses. _

_She giggled seductively (Something Shinji wouldn't expect the usually short tempered redhead to do in his presence) as she placed a hand on Shinji's chest. "Shinji." The redhead said in a seductive voice as she slowly pulled off her glasses, before tossing them to the side, and undid her hair with one hand. Giving a slight giggle she shook her head. "Shinji? Shinji?" The redhead asked as he blue orbs narrowed. _

"_Huh?"_

"_Shinji snap out of it!"_

* * *

Looking forward Shinji noticed Asuka's glare. "Uh sorry Asuka, I was miles away." He said with a nervous laugh.

The red haired glared but didn't comment on it, as she didn't even want to know what was going through his head. "Whatever, can you help me read this? I'm having trouble understanding these characters." Asuka admitted as she looked away as it wasn't easy for her pride to ask for his help, but Asuka knew that Shinji wouldn't make fun of her for asking for a bit of help. She knew that Shinji didn't think less of her because of her inability to fully comprehend Kanji.

She had done her best to deceiver the words on the screen but some of them were making her confused as to what the page was saying. "I'm only about five pages in. I just got done with those stupid equations, those were easy since it was mostly numbers." Asuka answered as she squinted her eyes at the screen.

"Oh than I think you should be on thermal expansion then," Shinji commented as he remembered that it was early on that the lesson spoke about that peculiar subject. Shinji looked down as he realized that he was actually suffering from a minor case of thermal expansion thanks to his stupid daydream. At the same time Shinji made a mental note to revisit that dream some time later when he was alone.

Asuka bit her lip as she attempted once more to read the kanji, some of the words made sense now t hat she knew what the subject was about. "Yeah…" The red haired teen responded as she clicked on something. 'So that's what that said.' With a tired sigh she slumped into her seat. "Thermal expansion, huh? Man that was so long ago."Asuka sighed as she remembered her time at university. 'A school filled with a bunch of drunken idiots who have no shame.' She mused to herself as she remembered her experiences at the school

One instance that stuck with her was when some twenty-something year old had hit on her. 'All they were after was a naïve girl who wouldn't know what she was getting herself into , unfortunately for them that wasn't me.' She smirked as she remembered the time she kneed the guy where the sun don't shine.

Shinji nodded to indicate that he was paying attention. "Well I'm sure that you already know all you need to know about science. Considering that you've already been to college." Shinji stated as he finished up the last of the problems on his laptop.

Asuka nodded proudly before sulking. "Sadly it didn't stop Nerv from forcing me to go to that stupid middle school." Asuka sighed before leaning back slightly in her chair. "And I didn't get to even go on the trip…"

Shinji gave Asuka a slightly sad smile as he watched her. "Well, look on the bright side Asuka. Maybe after this is all over we can go to Okinawa." Shinji said as he powered down his laptop.

Asuka stuck her tongue out at him. "Yeah right, as if I would ever go with you, you pervert." She said as she crossed her arms and turned away from him. Though if he were paying for the trip she might be tempted to go.

"Now, now Asuka, don't get so excited, it wouldn't just be us, Rei would come as long." Shinji said in a teasing voice. The words (Then it would be a threesome were on the tip of his tongue, but Shinji's brain was working at half capacity today. And also he didn't feel like suffering through whatever torture she'd plan for him just to see her cute face turn scarlet.)

Oh from Asuka's face Shinji could deduce that she was plenty mad enough. "Baka-Hentai!" Asuka shouted as she wished to for someone to smack his smiling face. Asuka, despite being annoyed with Shinji couldn't help but admit that he was defiantly one of a kind. One second Shinji was all helpful, her best friend who'd do just about anything she asked of him, the next he'd be ticking her off with some of the most absurd comments. 'I swear I have never met someone like him!' Asuka mused to herself as she settled for glaring at him.

Shinji gave a weary smile as he put his hands up to show his surrender. "Haha, I'm just messing with you, it's only a friendly joke." Shinji said with a laugh.

Asuka continued to glare. "Hey Shinji I still got one good foot, want to see what I can do with it?" At the gleam in her eye Shinji gulped.

The pilot of Eva unit 1 scratched his head. "Sheesh, me and my big mouth." Shinji sighed as he closed his laptop. 'Almost time to go.' He said to himself as he looked at his watch.

* * *

With a heavy sigh Shinji grabbed his glass of water and took a large gulp. "Is the married couple still fighting?" A monotonous voice asked. Asuka screamed as Shinji did a spit take, water nearly hitting her. The two looked over to see Rei standing next to their table. She was for once not in her school uniform; instead she was wearing a white one-piece swim suit.

Asuka turned to Shinji, who was violently coughing as water had gone down his windpipe at Rei's comment. "Careful Third!" Asuka shouted at her friend, though whether she was concerned for him or not Shinji could only speculate. Gritting her teeth Asuka then turned her attention on the blue haired pilot. "Now what were you saying, First?" Asuka asked in a deadly tone.

A tiny smile appeared on her face. "I'm sorry, it's just that you two were acting like a 'married couple,'" Rei said a bit unsure before explaining further. "At least that's what Suzuhara has said to me." Sitting in an available seat she continued speaking. "And from what I have observed on how you two act I'd say that Suzuhara is "hitting the nail on the head" So to speak."

Glaring Asuka shifted in her seat. "We are not, nor will we ever be a married couple." Asuka firmly stated as she crossed her arms and glared at the First Child, daring her to speak.

Shinji wiped his mouth as he sat up, having heard the last few snip bits of conversation Shinji allowed a smile to grace his features. "Never say never, Asuka." Shinji, who had made a complete recovery from his shock, cheekily said.

Rei stared at Asuka for a few seconds. "Denial." The First Child said as if giving a diagnosis. "Its common behavior of a tsundere," Asuka paused as she stared at the First Child, not exactly sure if she had heard that right. Did the First just call me a Tsundere? She wondered as her brain ceased all activity to ponder this question.

Shinji smirked as he noted the brilliant shade of scarlet that Asuka's face had become. "So Asuka-."

It was at that instance that Asuka recovered from her momentary shock. "Choose your words carefully Third," Asuka stated in a clipped tone.

Shinji smirked as he decided not to alter his words. "So, a spring wedding or a summer wedding?" Shinji asked before laughing out loud.

Asuka's face turned pink before going brilliant scarlet. "I swear Shinji when I get this effing cast off you're a dead man!" Slamming her palms down on the table Asuka shouted at the male Eva pilot who actually felt like he was possibly going a bit too far with his teasing today.

Shinji placed his hands up in mock-surrender. "Alright, alright, calm down Asuka, I'll stop."Shinji promised to temporarily keep his loose tongue on a tight leash. 'For now.'

Asuka nodded as her red face went back to normal. "Good," She spoke as she looked back to her computer.

A few moments of silence past by before more fuel to the fire was added. "I am starting to believe Suzuhara's other statement. Ikari pilot Soryu has got you, 'whipped', or so he says." Rei's voice broke though the short lived silence.

It was suddenly Shinji's turn to be shocked, but not before he allowed a small smile. 'I guess I am a little whipped.' The pilot of Evangelion unit 1 thought with a light smile.

Suddenly before Asuka could invoke her wrath the warning sirens began blaring. "All personae of Nerv, an Angel has been detected. I repeat an Angel has been detected. Please report to your designated areas. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill." The announcement ceased but the sirens continued ringing.

The blue haired teen immediately stood up. "I'll go on ahead, Ikari-kun you help pilot Soryu." She said before moving to the exit.

Asuka still had the need to shout. "What makes you think he has to help me? Do I look like an invalid to you?" No response came to her besides the irritated sigh of Shinji.

Shinji approached the red head with caution one would use against a hungry predator. "Asuka come on, don't be difficult, we need to get ready, there's an Angel." Shinji said as calmly and as gentle as possible.

Asuka turned to him with a glare. "Really? I had no idea!" Her voice was drenched in sarcasm.

Shinji sighed as he knew they were getting nowhere. 'Time to get to work.' Shinji thought a bit annoyed as he moved over to Asuka. "You didn't bring you're crutches, so I have to help you." The brown haired boy said a bit wary of her. "Do you expect to get anywhere by hobbling around all of Nerv?" Shinji asked as he reached for Asuka.

But the red head wasn't going to go peacefully. "Keep your hands off me you Hentai!" She shouted as Shinji grasped her arm and slung it over his shoulder with the utmost care. Dropping to his knees he helped her up.

"You don't have much of a choice in the matter, we need to hurry. Or do you want to get left behind while Rei and I defeat the Angel?" Shinji paused to let her answer. The red haired German muttered something. "What was that?" Shinji asked despite having heard her well enough. "I didn't quite hear that?" The Third Child teased.

Asuka turned to him with an annoyed look in her eye before grabbing his ear and placing her lips next to said ear. "I said hurry the hell up or else I'll kick your ass!" Asuka, basically giving her consent, shouted.

The young teen, despite being temporarily deaf, smirked. "Knew you'd see it my way." Shinji said as he placed his other hand on Asuka's hip and lead her to the exit.

Asuka, still feeling the need to be resistant, spoke. "Don't push it, you touch me in any way that feels weird, I don't care if I have a broken leg, I'll make it impossible for you to ever have children." Asuka threatens as she glared at Shinji.

Shinji couldn't stop the grin that came at those words. "Haha, don't worry Asuka, you know that I'm too afraid to do such a thing while you're awake!" Shinji couldn't help but think it cute at how flushed Asuka's face was becoming.

Asuka, having gone though enough teasing reacted by promptly stomping on Shinji's toes with her good foot. To her satisfaction Shinji jumped up and yelped at the pain. Asuka nodded to herself as Shinji sulked. "So abusive," She heard Shinji mutter.

Asuka huffed at his whining. "It's not like you didn't deserve it." Asuka said with no regret at her actions. "Besides stop being a baby, aren't you a man?" The redhead slyly said.

Shinji smirked at her, despite the pain still in his toes. "If you want I can prov-."He paused as he noticed Asuka's gaze turn dark, almost daring him to continue. Coughing Shinji changed the subject. "Uh, let's go," He lamely finished before moving forward.

Asuka nodded as she saw that Shinji was done teasing her, now it was time for a tiny bit of her own teasing. "Now then, _servant_, carry me to the changing room." Asuka said in a slightly snobbish tone. "And if you make it snappy I might just reward you."

Shinji ceased walking before considering Asuka's request. After a few seconds Shinji rolled his eyes and complied. As the two walked towards the changing rooms, Shinji piggybacking Asuka, the Third Child couldn't help but open his big mouth, much to Asuka's dismay. "Do I at least get the privilege of being able to watch?" He sarcastically asked.

"Baka-Hentai!"

* * *

**So how was it? Like I said I really didn't like how I handled this chapter. For one I hated how I had to split it up, it would have been much longer, but I feel that I've made you all wait long enough, so I halved it and made the chapter into two shorter ones. (The next chapter will come once I'm finished writing the Angel battle, and to be honest I have no idea how I'm going to do this one. Because I don't want to do what I did last time and make the battle similar to the actual anime, I wanna try something different.) But regardless I will keep on writing, just stay patient and I'll have the next chapter up…eventually. **


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